A Swift Knucklehead
by Rifat
Summary: During the Scroll of Seals incident, Uzumaki Naruto awakened the Swift Release. After a few harsh, but equally true words regarding his overall lack of skills, the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi takes up his life as a ninja a tad bit more seriously. On his path, Naruto will discover who he truly is and what it means to be the Hokage. Slightly AU. On hiatus.
1. Motivation Comes in Different Forms

**Author's Notes I:** This is a re-edited chapter. Once you read this, you'll see that one event has been completely changed. Yeah, you know which scene. That said, enjoy the show.

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 **I want to own Naruto. Unfortunately, I don't**

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 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

There was a deafening silence in the room.

The two current occupants of the room sat opposite to each other, as a table stood firmly in between them..

One observed the ground, fiddling with his fingers, as he did his best in avoiding the gaze of the elder person who was directly looking at him.

The person who was looking at the other human being was an aged man.

Nearly seventy years old and sharp as he was back at the height of his youth, Sarutobi Hiruzen's coal eyes softened. They had a look of understanding as he observed the person before him.

Earlier tonight the Seal of Scrolls containing jutsu that not only was powerful, but so delicate in nature that they would cause some unrest, had been stolen.

Such duties like this befell upon the leader of Konoha and when Sarutobi had heard that it had been taken, he was nearly livid. Such an event was both embarrassing and highly dangerous, as it indicated treason inside ranks of the Leaf.

However his calmer shinobi side helped him keep a lid on his myriad of emotions that he had felt in that moment.

Imagine his surprise when he used the **Tomegane no Jutsu / Telescope Technique** to find out that a thirteen year old _failed_ examinee of the Academy had stolen it, and of all people it had to be Uzumaki Naruto.

The whole situation didn't add up.

Uzumaki Naruto was many things.

He was brash, outspoken, loud to a fault and a bit (a lot most of the times) overconfident of his own skills. However, there were also many things he was not.

He was not a thief, that much Sarutobi could stake his life on and make such a claim.

Despite being overcharged of even the basest of needful items one needed, he always paid that amount and despite the Hokage's continuous efforts to get the civilians to treat him more humanely it always failed.

Someone always got away with a dirty deed every now and then, it was worse when he couldn't reports of such recorded incidents from the chunnin whose exact jobs were to look out for cases like this.

Sarutobi observed the situation and saw that Naruto had somehow entered the Tower, with no chunnin guards conveniently not around at the time, and stole the scroll and then was resting in the forest near the outskirts of the village.

Being the hyperactive and restless person he was, Naruto started reading the scroll and much to Hiruzen's surprise he actually mastered one of the techniques down in an hour.

The **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** maybe a jounin level technique, but due to the large amounts of chakra consumption shinobi of that caliber often opted not to use it that much due to the drain. Hence the technique was labeled as a kinjutsu.

Naruto not only learned the jutsu, but he mastered it pat down.

Then as Sarutobi continued to observe the situation, he saw Umino Iruka arrive and berate his delinquent of a student for doing such a deed; he was one of the very few people who saw Naruto for what he was and not what he contained.

Then the real instigators Toujo Mizuki and Matou Butai came in revealing they had tricked Naruto into stealing the scroll from the Tower, and they also revealed one of Naruto's greatest secrets that even he not knew.

Uzumaki Naruto was the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Upon hearing this news and further demoralizing statements on how he and the Fox were one and the same, Naruto had nearly broken down.

However, due to Iruka standing up for him and some heartwarming words from the scarred chunnin, Naruto realized that not all people looked at him like that though it did explain why he was seen with those glares and the subject of hateful words, occasional beatings on his birthday and the general ostracizing in his life.

As Naruto and Iruka were facing them down, Iruka had gotten injured in the middle of the battle and Naruto himself was going to die as a giant fuma shuriken came for him.

However, in the last moment Naruto disappeared from plain view in a blur.

Even the Hokage was surprised, the ANBU who had been observing the entire situation had the same experience.

The Sandaime had only seen something like this once when Hiruko, a former shinobi of the Leaf, had gone rogue and was somehow stealing Kekkei Genkai to use it for himself. His actions had caused unrest between the villages and Jiraiya no Gama Sennin himself had later killed him due to his actions.

Uzumaki Naruto, then proceeded to shell shock the two traitorous chunnin by overwhelming them with a horde of his own physical copies, numbering in hundreds, and traps with gear he had borrowed from Iruka in the spur of the moment, though that part wasn't surprising given the intricate designs of high level pranks the blonde had devised numerous times before.

Then he was given Iruka's hitai-ate by the scarred chunnin himself for his act of bravery and loyalty, officially graduating him and giving him the rank of genin. After that, the ANBU came in taking Iruka to the hospital and escorting Naruto along with the Seal of Scrolls to the Hokage.

And now, here we are.

"Naruto-kun." the Sandaime said finally shattering the wall of silence built for some time. "You're not usually this quiet."

"It's nothing Jiji." He said with a fake smile plastered on his face, a smile he had been practicing for years.

A smile that defensively came to life to protect him from whatever words would come next from any person who spoke with him.

All the hate and glares he received, he always answered them with a goofy grin.

It was instinct by now.

"You shouldn't lie to me, Naruto-kun." The older man spoke and the blonde's smile faded to be replaced with a look of sadness that he didn't show.

But Sarutobi knew that look, he tried spending time with the boy whenever he could.

However, his duties didn't allow him such privileges.

Honestly speaking at times, Sarutobi felt ashamed of himself and his failures.

But that red tape bureaucracy of bullshit by the Elders and the Council often barred him from doing so. He needed to make up for it, now that he boy knew about his tenant and had shown a new skill there was only but a few ways to go about this.

"Why didn't you tell me about _it_ before, Jiji?" he said as his blue eyes which usually shone of confidence didn't have that shine. Instead they were a bit dull, they looked a bit lost.

Hiruzen sighed out of sadness knowing this question was coming. It didn't make the guilt he felt lessen.

"Honestly, I didn't want you to know. The reason being, you would've probably ended up hurting yourself if you found out. You have done that before." Hiruzen said and the boy winced a bit at his tone.

Naruto did often try hurting himself, indirectly in a manner, when he used to often punch his arms against wooden posts or even bang his head out of frustration at the generally hostile behavior he was on the receiving end of.

The worst of it was when he had finally managed to slash his wrists with a kunai, it was rusty but he had made it work. He would've been free, but he woke up at the hospital next day as his Jiji stood with another man watching over him. The boy had depression, that much was clear as day.

He knew what his Jiji meant and was sort of understanding that, but another question ate away at him. One he blurted out.

"Jiji, what was that thing I did? You know when I moved really fast." He asked and the Sandaime looked at him in surprise first. It seemed that the old man was shocked at his words.

"You've never done that before?" he asked and the blonde who had prominent red highlights in his hair shook his head. "I see. That Naruto-kun, was the Jinton."

"Jinton? What the heck is that?" he asked not really sure what it really was. The old man chuckled at his answer and spoke up again.

"Jinton or Swift Release is a Kekkei Genkai, something that is only known to manifest in a clan or immediate family members." He said and almost immediately the boy beamed up as his hands landed with thuds on the desk.

"Does that mean my parents had this Jinton thing? Am I from a clan?! Jiji, am I-" whatever remaining questions that the blonde with red highlights wanted to make was stopped when the old man raised his hand to stop his frivolous barrage of queries.

"To my knowledge, you parents didn't have Jinton." The old man said in order to bring his excitement level down. "You're the only one in Konoha with such a bloodline."

However, Sarutobi noted that the boy's eyes widened, then they grew dull as he began to speak.

"So…you did know my parents." He said with an intermediate pause as the Sandaime's eyes widened for a moment before retaining their normal dimensions.

'Did he plan to say it in that way?' Sarutobi thought with a small grimace in mind.

The boy was a tricky one.

While he may not be the sharpest kunai among them all, he certainly had his own way of doing things and this did not seem far from his modus operandi. It was almost befitting of the Fox that was held back inside him and as much as he wanted to tell the boy about his heritage he couldn't.

At the end of the day, Naruto was a Jinchuuriki and the Sandaime could've done something but he didn't.

Some part of him ignored the boy and retained knowledge from him, knowledge about the boy's parents and the life he could've had.

"Very well, Naruto-kun. I did know your parents." He said and he immediately expected a yell, a shout or some form of vocal responses with large amplitude that would shake the rooms of the wall.

However, instead he heard a groan, a sigh, a hollow chuckle.

Uzumaki Naruto was crying a bit as well.

He had let down his walls again, Sarutobi had only seen the boy crying a few times.

Once when he was admitted into the hospital after the first 'hunt', second when a woman who often visited Naruto to talk with him died and finally when he was nine after he had received the worst beating resulting in a completely fractured arm and heavy internal bleeding.

His suicide attempt was different, after he had woken up he didn't cry but had a hollow look on his face and a voice devoid of all his optimism...just like now.

"So…you did know." He said in a near depraved voice in between the sobs. Then he rubbed his eyes and dried off his tears, the fire that was always in his eyes had returned. However betrayal and anguish were present too as he spoke, "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you always lie to me?"

"I did it for your own good Naruto-kun, your parents…..they were shinobi who had many, many enemies outside the village. If they found out you their son were alive, then you would've been marked for death from a young age." He said a calm tone trying to wash away the guilt he felt from looking at those betrayed blue eyes.

While the young teen was far from composed at the moment, his mind did register the words.

Uzumaki Naruto was dense and maybe slow, but he wasn't stupid.

He knew that there were many people with dark agendas in the world.

An example would be the woman Uchiha Mikoto who often visited him in the park when he was alone since he was six, later whom he learned more than a year later was Sasuke teme's mother, and she wanted him to be friends with Sasuke so he could ease up a bit.

That woman often brought him gifts, sweets, and of course his trademark goggles when he was curiously eyeing them one day at a store.

Then, three years later she had died.

The Uchiha Clan Massacre happened and he had lost something akin to an aunt, he still went to the Cemetery every now and then to lay flowers on her grave.

He kept those goggles.

They were precious to him and were a memoir of Uchiha Mikoto, one of the few people who cared about him and a woman, who despite being there for a short time, who had showered him what he assumed to be motherly love. He would forever remember her.

To honor her, he tried to reach out to Sasuke, in his own way, and realized the boy was a bit like him. Alone.

However, the two were like oil and water. Naruto considered Sasuke his rival and set it as a goal to reach his level on day so that he would acknowledge him and in turn, he could keep a promise to Miko-oba-chan.

The fact that he was brooding emo was something he couldn't change much, but he'd still try his best.

"Fine, but I want to ask you one thing." He said and sighed before he spoke looking at the old Hokage. "Did they love me?"

He needed to know.

This was something he asked himself day in and day out.

Did his parents love him?

Did they care about him?

Did they willingly gave him up to become the vessel for the Nine Tails?

"Of course they did. They….they died protecting you from the Kyuubi." Sarutobi said and noted how the blonde's face had morphed into anguish.

He was the reason his parents were dead…they died protecting him. And he actually questioned their love towards him …he really didn't deserve them.

"Listen to me, Naruto-kun." Sarutobi said who had appeared in the chair next to him without seeing the old man move or even hearing the noise.

His mind idly registering the level of speed made him a bit nervous.

Perhaps it was because his mind was fresh off the first time he had taken part in an actual battle where his opponents were trying to kill him. It made him a bit more cautious.

"Your parents loved you. They wanted you to grow up to be a strong shinobi, I was there as they told me that. Don't you want to keep up with their word? After all, it is your nindo." the old man finished and the boy nodded slowly

"Hai." He said softly, but there was firm tone of confidence in his voice. Still he couldn't help but ask the question. "Who were they jiji?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Not until you're a bit older or a jounin at the very least. Your identity, is something of an S Rank secret even among the higher ups." He said the absolute truth. This was something that Sarutobi had planned a very, very long time ago.

"Fine then jiji. I'll wait until I become a jounin. Then you'll have no choice but to tell me and finally…give me your hat as well." He said with a small smile, as he looked forward to the day he would find out who he was, where he came from.

"Well, that said I'll see you tomorrow with your picture when you register, then a month later team placements will take place. Looks like the Kage Bunshin will help you in training more than you can know." The Hokage said and the blonde looked at him an inquisitive stare.

"Jiji, what do you mean the Kage Bunshin will help? And why are placements a whole month later, dattebayo?" he asked and the old man chuckled at his response.

"Right, did you know that Shadow Clones can relay memories to you?" he asked and the blonde looked at him with squinted eyes, not clearly understanding what the elder was saying. "What I'm saying is Naruto-kun, you can use Shadow Clones to train. Since you have large chakra reserves, even without your tenant, you can use them to increase your training. Take it this way, if you use three clones to train with you the entire day then you'll get three extra days of training in one day."

"Suge!" Naruto said as his eyes somehow shaped into stars and the old man had to bark out a small laughter at his reaction. That was the Uzumaki Naruto he knew. Then the blonde looked at him with a more serious look, "Jiji, what about my…Jinton, yeah. What about that?"

"I'm afraid I can't help you personally with that nor can anyone else. However, there is something else I can do." the Sandaime said as the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi looked at him curiously. "There was one other person who had the Jinton. He's dead, but I did manage to excavate scrolls from him that contained knowledge on the Jinton since he himself wasn't an inheritor of it as he stole it."

The last part of Sarutobi's sentence made the blonde feel unnerved.

"You can steal Kekkei Genkai? How?" the blonde asked a bit scared at the aspect of someone stealing his ability.

All his life he was treated as a pariah, sometimes even lesser than that as people would vehemently ignore his existence.

That's why he did pranks, so that they would look at him and acknowledge his existence.

For someone out there to take away something that not only made him special, but also having something that probably one of his parents had made him feel that much wary at the prospect of such an ability being forcefully taken away from him.

"There are a few ways to do it. Take the Uchiha Clan for example, their Kekkei Genkai manifests in their eyes and is called the Sharingan." Sarutobi said as he noted the undivided amount of attention that the blonde was giving him without getting bored. "Their Kekkei Genkai allows them to not only see what future moves their opponents will make and a vision on how much chakra they have, but also allows them to copy techniques down to the tiniest detail"

"What?! But that's unfair?!" Naruto yelled out and though the neither of them knew it, two of the four ANBU in the room mentally nodded with the blonde. An Uchiha's abilities were almost unfair. The orange clad boy continued, "Are you telling me that if someone works hard for years to fire a jutsu properly, a guy with a Sharingan can just look at him with his eyes and steal the technique just like that? That is so wrong dattebayo!"

"True, the Sharingan is a versatile ability and often times people who wield those eyes have been called jutsu thieves. But the shinobi world is unfair, Naruto-kun. We aren't just heroes. Tell me what do you think of the Yondaime?" Sarutobi asked, he had asked that question before knowing how well the boy looked up to his formerly living successor.

Naruto shifted his eyes from the old man to the four portraits on the upper left side of the wall.

His eyes fixed on the fourth portrait. The man who sort of looked like Naruto in terms of hair and eye color, was almost a spitting image if Naruto's facial shape and eye shape weren't different.

That and the Jinchuuriki had red highlights in his hair people often teased him about. He didn't care he liked the small bits of red in his hair. Naruto then spoke.

"The Yondaime was a genius, he stopped the Kyuubi and was the hero of the Third Great Ninja War." He said and the current Hokage lit up his tobacco pipe as he calmly took a few breathes in. Naruto shook his head. "Smoking will kill you, Jiji."

"Heh, I'm too young to die." He said and along with the blonde both smiled at his words. He then looked at the Jinchuuriki to give his answer. "You're right about Minato's status as a hero, Naruto-kun. But do you know people in Iwagakure hate hIm? Even to this day the Yellow Flash remains their most hated nemesis."

"Why? I mean sure they were enemies in the war, but other countries were involved as well." The blonde said trying to make an argument in favor of his hero, even though the man sealed the Kyuubi in him he still admired him. Though not as much as before, finding out that you were basically housing a mountain sized demon does that.

"True, but Minato didn't just win the war. He annihilated Iwa's chances in the war. Using his famed Hiraishin, he _killed_ over a thousand ninja of Iwagakure in a single battle." He said and let that information sink in, knowing full well that the boy must've skipped a few twenty lessons in history. He had emphasized his sentence properly and saw the conflicted look on the blonde's face. "That is another thing I wanted to talk to you about, Naruto-kun."

"Entire families, mothers, daughters, sons, fathers and brothers never saw their living ones again once Minato was done killing them." He said and saw the boy meekly nod at him.

"So, you're saying that the Yondaime was just a killer?" he asked and the man made no physical reaction.

"All shinobi are killers at one point, Naruto-kun. At times we get missions that are well more or less assassinations. The Yondaime had killed plenty of times before that, but not because he was a murderer." He said and the blonde with red highlights looked at the old man. "He did it to protect the village and his loved ones so that Iwa would not destroy Konoha. At one point you too have to kill, Naruto-kun which is one of the things I wanted to talk to you about."

"Well what is it, Jiji?" he asked and gulped a bit. He had never seen his Jiji look at him so seriously.

"Naruto-kun, you generally have very low skills when it comes being an actual shinobi." He said and the blonde slumped into the seat. Sarutobi had to say it. He couldn't prolong this any longer and let this chance go to waste.

Uzumaki Naruto had potential, a very good potential.

So much that Shimura Danzo made requests several times to train the boy, not because he was just the Jinchuuriki but because he was an Uzumaki with large chakra reserves that would make them both of them look like children at one point and because the Shinobi no Yami believed that despite his 'loud' personality there was some of his father's drive and tenacity in him along with his mother's unwavering will.

And now he found out the boy had the Jinton, though how he had it will perhaps remain a mystery since neither his father nor mother had the ability.

Perhaps it was dormant in of them, perhaps it was Minato as the Sandaime mused.

"You're loud, you don't think clearly, you walk around in that orange monstrosity, your projectile skills are that of a civilian's and you have horrible chakra control." He said and if the boy could, he would've sunken further into the chair.

Sarutobi placed a hand on his shoulders getting the boy to sit upright as he continued.

"However, you have the potential Naruto-kun. I'm not joking. With your chakra reserves, the Jinton and your will to never give up…I have no doubt one day, you will become the Hokage. Who knows maybe I'll live long enough to see when that happens." he said and the boy nodded at his words.

"Good, now first thing's first. There are a few things you need to know. Remember that stupid 'civilian tax' people made you pay?" he asked and the boy nodded with a near scowl on his face. "Well, if they do make sure you show them your headband and tell them you'll report such a thing if they do again or even mention something like 'shinobi tax'. There is no such thing, they were simply letting their hatred for the Kyuubi get to you. Next, you will be using the Shadow Clones to train yourselves. How many can you make, a round figure that is?"

"Well I made around 300 in the forest and I didn't feel anything, but now that you mention it I do remember every blow that they made on those guys." He said now realizing why received all those images after the clones dispelled.

"I see, keep it to three hundred a day and train. Wait, take these too." Sarutobi said as he moved over to his drawer and brought out two scrolls. He gave them to the blonde who took it with fervor evident in his shaking hands. "These contain sealing materials and since you can use the library without anyone stopping you because of your rank, I suggest you start on fuuinjutsu."

"But fuuinjutsu is boring dattebayo. Why can't I have something more awesome to suit a great ninja like me?" he asked and the old man shook his head.

"Not yet, Naruto-kun. Like I said before, you need to make your base strong before you grow. The month you have should make you strong on a decent scale along with the added help of Shadow Clones." He said and the blonde looked like he needed one more push. He needed to make a calculated risk that would serve as a catalyst.

"Besides, I thought you would've liked fuuinjutsu considering you're from the clan that specialized in it and the fact that the Yondaime was a seal master." He said and the blonde froze right then and there.

He was from a clan?

He was…from a clan.

He was from a clan!

"WHAT?! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT JIJI?!" he yelled and the ANBU stood there emotionless.

Some of them heard of the Uzumaki Clan, well one of their more formerly notable living members was an Uzumaki. She was the Crimson Death and earned her nickname.

It didn't take a genius to figure the situation out.

"You're from the Uzumaki Clan. Sad to say, there are no other survivors though." Sarutobi added so that the blonde would calm down. "The Uzumaki Clan was from Uzushiogakure. They were cousins to the Senju Clan and were one of our greatest allies before the village was destroyed by Iwa, Kumo and Kiri. Maybe there are some more survivors scattered across the world."

"I see." He said, this day was starting to take its toll on him. Whenever he beamed up at something it would be shot down. Life was so not unfair at the moment dattebayo. "Is the Jinton thing an Uzumaki Kekkei Genkai or something?"

"I'm afraid not. Jinton has never been recorded in the Uzumaki Clan's history. However, they were famous for their large amounts of chakra and strong life force, so much they were called the Village of Longevity. I suppose that's why they were wiped out despite being a neutral nation who never took part in conflicts."

"Dammit." He said releasing a frustrated sigh.

He found out that HE, Uzumaki Naruto was from a clan.

Only to know said clan was extinct or some living members were far away. Maybe he'd meet them one day. But first things came first.

"Jiji. I wanted to ask something, why is there a one month gap? I thought it was one week."

"It was, Naruto-kun. However due to too many graduates emerging from the Academy, the teachers are having a hard time sorting teams out. That and because some people will be laid off." Sarutobi said and the blonde once more looked at him in a confused manner.

"Laid off? Wait you mean not everyone is going to be a genin?" he asked incredulously. Upon seeing the old man nod his head, he was a bit shocked. He decided to voice his confusion. "Then what about all those years we spent at the Academy?"

"Not everyone can be a shinobi, Naruto-kun. Due to peaceful times, the standard for shinobi have gone down. The generation before you entered the Academy was also growing weak with a few exceptions. I've seen so many genin being killed, so many young kunoichi raped that their minds were broken after that and some even got sold as human toys." He said not sugarcoating his words as the boy flinched.

He wanted the boy to flinch. He needed to be serious now.

"This is why I want you to train seriously, Naruto-kun. While I am not asking you to be a mindless tool who only knows how to take orders and kill when given the instructions, I don't want you to be weak. That is why those who can't hack it, will be sent to other departments instead of on field." He said and the boy sighed a relief which the Hokage found interesting. "You seemed to be relieved, Naruto-kun. Can you tell me why?"

"Well I may not have been friends with everyone at the Academy, but I'm kind of glad they'll be able to help without going to the field, dattebayo." He said as he grinned at the old man.

The ANBU in the room though emotionless in behavior couldn't help but smile underneath their masks, even though he made them clean up his mess one times too many.

Hiruzen himself had to smile widely at the words.

It was incredible how the boy still cared about the general kids who studied with him despite their behavior.

He truly was one of a kind.

"You're going to make a fine shinobi, Naruto-kun. I'm surprised all the girls haven't come after you yet." Hiruzen said and the boy grumbled.

"Yeah right. All girls want right now is to be with their 'Sasuke-kun!'" he finished with a tone that was reminiscent of fan girls. He then continued. "Honestly I don't get it, all he does is 'Hn', 'Hn' and 'Hn'. Then proceeds to be a jerk and everyone, including Sakura-chan, just squeal at him for grunting."

"Maybe they like him more because of your perverted jutsu and avoid you." Hiruzen said as he chuckled at the boy's reaction. One of the ANBU, who happened to be female twitched a bit at her leader's words.

"That, I just made that after seeing a guy reading a magazine that had girl on the front wearing little to no clothes. A couple was going by, the guy with the woman was staring at the cover before the woman with smacked him on the head. It works as a good distraction so I made it." He said and the Hiruzen stopped for a minute.

Surely the boy didn't…..

"Naruto-kun what do you mean you made that after seeing a magazine? What about your Sex-Ed class?" he asked and the boy was quiet for a minute before he spoke up.

"Oh yeah, I was kicked out of that class all the time. Pssht. Like I'd have a problem without that class. I mean who needs sex? It's just a gender." He said and the ANBU couldn't believe what he just said. Sarutobi's eyes were the size of dinner plates.

"Then how'd you make the Henge?" Sarutobi asked and the boy replied earnestly.

"Well it was more or less the same picture, only I added no clothes and smoke to cover my body parts. I didn't want anyone to see my fat chest and my thing hanging out." He said and everyone were shocked at his words.

In their minds they imagined that sexy blonde he transformed into….with _that_ in between her legs. Sarutobi shuddered at he implications.

"Oh dear." The Hokage said as he breathed in and exhaled. He needed to fix this, for all that was straight and perverse he needed to fix this. "So no one ever taught you about the birds and the bees?"

"Birds and bees? Well they're animals, bees are insects cause you know Shino always liked to clarify that." He said and the old man pinched the bridge of his nose. This was going to be very, very awkward.

That night Uzumaki Naruto went home with a red face and steam blowing out of his ears. He kept muttering incoherent sentences 'penis goes there' and 'how do babies even come out of that place'.

However the one he kept repeatedly chanting , and more than once a few women who were in earshot heard him had to blush, 'They do it in the ass too'.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

This was frustrating.

No this was far beyond frustrating. Let it be said that while Uzumaki Naruto may not be the most patient man or living being in general on earth, he was far from being the worst.

Still, having to sit still and _study_ for more than three hours without having to yell his frustration out was wearing thin on him.

That and the strict librarian lady had already hit him twice with that accursed, unholy stick whenever he increased his volume.

One day, one day he would have his revenge. Just wait, dattebayo!

Beside him were fifty other Shadow Clones who were working on reading as well. He had decided to get started on fuuinjutsu and was currently studying the First of the Ten Distinguished Levels.

He had to admit that it did beat carrying a backpack with him and much to his own surprise, he found it interesting; far more interesting than the other stuff which consisted of knowledge on not just Konoha but the other major villages as well.

The Academy had seemed to skip out on a lot of things, and Jiji was right.

The standards had dropped.

The standard genin age for graduation was ten years old before he joined, nine during wartime.

Now it was thirteen, the curriculum was also easier and Naruto realized just how far behind their generation was compared to the ones before. Naruto also picked up books on ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu. He quickly made notes, in a very ugly style much to his distaste, on all of them and was making more notes upon notes.

He didn't even know he had that much empty space in his notebooks.

He decided to go out and test out his taijutsu skills and quickly realized that he, Uzumaki Naruto sucked in his own opinion.

Yup, a spar with his clones and he realized just how horrible they were. He needed to work on his taijutsu, thank god Training Ground Three was virtually abandoned as Jiji had told him.

Summoning 500 hundred clones - bah, he could pull it off - he gave each one hundred of them to learn the katas, and hours later when he had received the memories, vertigo took a whole new meaning for him. Uzumaki Naruto was lying down on the grass as his eyes wandered to the sky.

Last night's conversation with Jiji about his skills was his main focal point now. He had to get stronger, he needed to find out who he was and then finally he could be Hokage so that people would finally realize that he was himself, not the Fox and treat him like he was somebody important not a demon incarnate.

Groggily getting up he sat still perfectly still.

Apparently meditation helped calm one's mind, helped them control their emotions and enhanced senses extending to the area around them. Considering how hyperactive he was, he needed it…..a lot of it.

"Well time to start the other part of training and-"

*GRUMBLE*

Even though no one was around, he blushed a bit out of embarrassment. He then walked up and got out of Training Ground Three. Soon enough he was in the general vicinity where the populace noted his presence and as usual whispers began emerging like the norm they were.

Learning about how chakra could be sent to organs and body parts to enhance their use he heard the usual whispers of him being condescended. This would've affected him, no it did affect him but only little now.

These people didn't understand the burden he held, how he _protected_ them each day by holding the Fox back instead being its human form. Fucking idiots is what he called them.

Or maybe, just maybe they were jealous of him.

'Yup.' He said as he grinned with his arms behind his head as he walked proudly among them. 'They're just jealous of my natural awesomeness. Hell if I was any cooler it would unfair to the world dattebayo!'

Uzumaki Naruto then finally found the most divine place in all of Konoha.

Ichiraku's Ramen.

Entering the stall, he gave his loud declaration.

"Uzumaki Naruto is here! Prepare the ramen for the Champion of the Gods has arrived!" he said and the two other people in the stand, two chunnin, scoffed at his words. He proceeded to ignore them as well.

Bah! As if they understood his love for ramen.

Some may call him weird or obnoxious for having such a craving for the starch based food, but he still remembered it.

He was six and alone, living on the streets after the orphanage kicked him out. It was raining heavily and he had come to this side of the town. A heavenly smell of various spices had brought him to the stall and he was peeping through the door trying to figure out what the smell was.

The man at the counter, Teuchi had seen him and called him.

At first he thought he was going to be yelled at or pushed away whilst thrown to the ground. Instead Teuchi ushered him in and gave him a towel to dry himself off and asked him whether he was hungry, the young boy replied no. Despite that the man put a steaming, freshly made bowl of miso ramen and Uzumaki Naruto had unknowingly shed tears of joy that day.

Teuchi was later the one who informed Hokage of him being here and the boy got his own apartment after that.

Ichiraku's became something of a safe haven for him.

Ramen was his emotional comfort, a means of escaping his sadness.

"In a minute, Naruto-kun." came the voice of one Ichiraku Ayame who was happy to see him again. He sat down and she ruffled his hair before Teuchi came in with an extra large 'Naruto' special.

Finishing his prayers to the Gods of Ramen and muttering a gracious 'Itadakimasu', the blonde drove into the bowl. The ramen never stood a chance as he began to viciously wolf down the noodles as they happily entered his abyss of a stomach.

It didn't take him long and soon after five more bowls followed. Before Teuchi could say he'll put it on the tab, Naruto brought out the money and paid him in full.

"Umm, Naruto." Teuchi said as he took the money and counted it, a bit confused. "Don't you usually pay later when having more than two large?"

"Yeah, but apparently some of my monthly stipend got mixed up and I got some extra cash last night." He said as he chuckled at the lie he said. The truth was, Naruto was paid for what he did last night. Sarutobi said it was not only a means of saying sorry to him, but also for the service he did.

He got the pay for a C Rank Mission and boy it was good be rewarded.

"Well that's good, but what else do you have planned today?" Ayame said and the blonde looked confused for a second before he spoke.

"Right I got some more training to do and after that I need your help." Naruto said with a furious nod as both father and daughter looked at him in a confused manner.

"My help? In what exactly? I'm not exactly a shinobi." Ayame said and the boy nodded but spoke up once more.

"True, but you're one of the damn best cooks in the village aside from Teuchi-jii-san and Jiji said to grow stronger I need to eat other things than just ramen, which is so not right." He said and Teuchi laughed at his words. Ayame blushed at being called at one of the best damn cooks but later also chuckled at his reaction.

Then he heard it.

Her voice.

'Sakura-chan.' Uzumaki Naruto thought as he heard her talking with someone. He could sit here and waste a few more bits of time, or he could pay his money and ask her out. Surely she was bound to say yes one of these days. He then got up and made a salute like gesture at the two of them.

"Right, gotta go now jii-san. See you later Ayame-chan." He said and exited the stall waving his hand at their goodbyes with a grin on his face.

"You know," Ayame began with a smile as she looked at his retreating form, fading into the distance and finally out of her sight "I haven't seen him this happy in a while."

"Yeah, not since he got those goggles." Teuchi added and smiled a bit sadly. "Kami rest that woman's soul. She was one of the few who cared about him like that."

"Hai. If only her son was a bit more like her. Though, I guess he takes more after the Commissioner." Ayame added as she remembered the husband of Uchiha Mikoto.

While he wasn't a jerk or something along those lines, the man was too uptight. Everyone should relax in a while, too bad he didn't live long enough to experience such a joy.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

Naruto slowly jumped from rooftop to rooftop as he silently, as silent as he could, followed the crush of his life.

He can still remember it today.

The day he met Haruno Sakura.

Once more his life had changed in the Park where children never played with him. He was around seven at the time, and was going to start his life at the Academy a few days later. A few kids, a bit older than his age and some were the same as him, were teasing someone about their big forehead.

Naruto, being the idiot with the Hero Complex he was, rushed in to 'save the day'. Upon his arrival, the instigators had left. Not because they were afraid of him, but because their parents told them to isolate the boy and avoid him at all costs. The girl he saw did have a larger than normal forehead, but he found it cute for some reason and her pink hair.

Along with her was the pinkette's future best friend err..rival.

He remembered playing with them in the park that day, happy and socially interactive memories were something he had in few amounts. As such, he remembered every single happy moment in his life along with the sad ones.

Maybe it was her hair that he found fascinating, pink hair was a rarity and the exotic nature of it perhaps ensnared him.

Then of course he didn't see her again until the Academy, and she too avoided him like the plague.

Now he mused that ultimately it was her parents that must've advised her on doing this.

"Oh kami this is boring." Sakura said with an exasperated sigh. She looked at the person who was beside her, that would be her mother Haruno Mebuki.

Both of them had grocery bags in their hands.

"Now, Sakura-chan don't be so lazy. Honestly you're going to be on a team two months later and become a genin. You should be a bit more active." Mebuki said as she walked with her daughter, unlike her daughter who had pink hair hers was more like a dark blonde, almost brownish.

"Geez, Kaa-san." Sakura said with a whine. "It's not going to be problem, especially if I'm on the same team as Sasuke-kun." She said dreamily with stars around her and hearts instead of her emerald eyes.

Naruto made a vomiting gesture at her words.

Seriously, it was always 'Sasuke-kun' this and 'Sasuke-kun' that with all the girls at the Academy, funny thing was he never even gave them a second glance. Maybe girls were into that stuff.

The blonde with red streaks idly noted what he would be like if he was like the raven haired emo with teen angst issues.

He shuddered at the thought.

While he did feel bad for Sasuke for going through something like that at that age, he did however feel that he could've been less of an ass.

Then again, he was an ass even before the massacre.

Miko-baa-chan did tell him to be friends with him, maybe it was because he was a broody moody from the first place.

"Sakura-chan, while I don't have anything against you going after Uchiha-san," she said as both her daughter and the Jinchuuriki listened to her words "you do realize he's a bit…..strange. I mean, he's never shown any interest in any girls…..ever."

Naruto snickered as he listened to the words. Last night, Sarutobi had told him about the guys who played for the other team.

At first Naruto couldn't believe it, in fact he didn't _want_ to believe it.

However Sarutobi told him to _believe it_.

'Looks like Sasuke is…..Sasugay!' he laughed out loud in his mind as a chibi Naruto in his head was holding a list, Chibi-Naruto cackled as he took a pen and put a tick mark on the check-box beside which was a sentence stating 'Make a very original joke about Teme'.

"You wouldn't understand, Kaa-san." She said with a spirit Naruto had never seen before. Such absolute determination and unwavering faith in her resolve that Naruto was almost surprised to the point he nearly gave out an audible gasp. "I love Sasuke-kun and sure he's a bit weird, but he's still better than that Naruto-baka!"

'Well that escalated quickly.' Naruto thought as he flinched previously upon her mentioning his name like that. Honestly he didn't understand why she resented him so much. 'I mean I'm always kind to her, and I try to cheer her up….but she's still like that.'

"I see." Mebuki said and uttered no further words. Naruto could understand why she didn't. She was probably like the rest of them, although he was glad that she didn't add anything horrible about him. That was….good?

"Honestly, that baka. Always screaming and yelling how he's going to be Hokage. Like someone like him could ever be Hokage. It's probably because he never had any parents to teach him anything." Sakura added further and Naruto clenched his fists.

He may love – or he thinks he does – Sakura, but that doesn't give her the right to say things like this about him. He didn't have _anybody_ growing up, nobody was there for him all the time.

'Wait….maybe this isn't the first time she said something like this. Why isn't her mom telling her anything?' he thought with some hope but the dirty blonde haired woman said no words to his defense or at the very least reprimand her daughter for saying such a thing about his parents.

"Always pestering me for dates when he knows I'm going to refuse him. He's so annoying all the time." she added further and Naruto once more winced under the implication of the words.

Sure he was a bit loud, louder and boisterous than most but that's how he was dattebayo! Everyone had their quirks, so why was he being the only one scrutinized like that.

"And I don't want you to go on a date with him…ever." Mebuki spoke after some time and Naruto could understand the adult saying this.

They were blinded by the image of the Fox too much to see him for the teenage boy he was.

"That reminds me, why did you always tell me avoid him?" Sakura asked all of a sudden, and the blond in hiding near their sight was more interested in the answer than the pinkette.

"Because he's a delinquent. Always pulling pranks and disturbing the people with his loud rants." Mebuki added with some venom in her voice and Naruto could almost _feel_ the resentment in her voice.

'No surprises there.' He thought with a small chuckle in his mind.

"That's true. I wish he would just leave us alone. Well, at least he didn't graduate. He even failed the graduation exam. I mean who _can't_ do the **Bunshin no Jutsu**? Anyone can do it." she said and this time Naruto felt a bit annoyed at her words.

Jiji explained to him that the reason why he couldn't do such a low rank jutsu was because he had so much chakra, such massive reserves of densely coiled chakra that it was impossible for him to pull it off without having near perfect control of his chakra which only one of his students Tsukane or Tsu-something had done.

Though he was a bit upset at not having control, he was ecstatic when he learned about his large chakra reserves, even without the Kyuubi. Uzumaki chakra FTW!

"Honestly I'm glad he's not a ninja. Otherwise he'd be a failure of a shinobi and drag everyone's name in the village down with him. I just wish he'd go away." She said and that was the last thing Naruto heard before he turned around and left.

He jumped away as he didn't realize that small trickles of tear were floating from his eyes into the wind as the sunlight made them reflect some light.

In that moment, Uzumaki Naruto hated himself. His mask of oozing self confidence had been shattered by the first girl he had ever loved, yet he couldn't bring himself to hate her. He couldn't even now.

All he could do was writhe in self-loathing.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

The Sandaime Hokage was breathing out of relief. At last he was done with today's pile of paperwork. It always was his bane, even with the assistance of his Shadow Clones the Professor had trouble sorting them out properly.

Then as he relaxed in his chair, he thought about pulling out his pipe and read that orange book he liked. It certainly would be a good way to pass his time.

Then he felt the presence, the presence of a man he hadn't seen in some time.

There was a knock on his door, and Sarutobi voiced that the person may enter.

The man entered and was old in age, around the same age as him give or take a few days here and there. He also had bandages covering the right side of his face, more specifically the eye as if he were hiding something. A crutch rested in his hand as it pushed against the ground to make him stand straight, however his lone eye was closed.

In that state, he walked forward and sat on the chair. He didn't need to open his eyes to know where the items and furniture in this room were. He knew where everything in this room was.

"Danzo," Sarutobi spoke up with a voice that displayed the opinions of both interest and mild hostility "what are you here?"

"The Jinchuuriki boy is training at Training Ground Three." the man known by the title Shinobi no Yami said in reply.

He opened his lone onyx eye as he watched his rival look at him impassively.

He then continued, "He's training _properly_. What exactly happened to instigate such an event?"

For a moment Sarutobi Hiruzen remained quiet and observed the situation in front of him. Shimura Danzo did love his village, but his methods were almost that of a tyrant's at times.

More than once he had asked for the young Uzumaki to be put under his care so he could 'train' him to be the weapon Konoha deserves.

Sarutobi had told him in front of the remaining Elders that he would rather die than spit on Minato's grave in such a way.

Uzumaki Naruto was off limits and over a certain amount of time Danzo accepted the fact. The reason was because he couldn't make the Jinchuuriki his 'soldier'.

The Kyuubi was not a beast to be underestimated or trifled with by normal means. He simply couldn't put a **Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal** and not expect the Kyuubi to do something to disrupt it.

He also couldn't use the **Kotoamatsukami** now. He had to wait for at least another three years before he did it. **Kotoamatsukami / Distinguished Heavenly Gods** despite being the most versatile and non-detecting genjutsu in recorded history did have its own share of drawbacks. Even with his Senju cell enhancements, the highest caliber of genjutsu in existence required a ridiculously large amount of time to recharge so he could use it again.

He had last used it when Sarutobi had made his decision to kill him after the Uchiha incident.

Activating the **Kotoamatsukami** , he implanted the idea that Sarutobi shouldn't kill him rather disband his ROOT operations. The genjutsu also had a three second time frame and due to the hallucination induction it conducts on the victim, Sarutobi was still walking towards him when he used the jutsu.

If he made any attempts to defend himself or let his ROOT agents come to his aide then a battle would've ensued and there was little possibility he would come out on top as Sarutobi wouldn't give him a fair fighting chance.

And now here he stood…..a failure trapped within his own weaved plots.

"I may have given him a right push to what he needs to be rather than what is. What are you really here for?" Sarutobi asked not at all amused at how his friend conveniently appeared at such a time.

"Nothing I just wanted to know why the Jinchuuriki was training that….seriously. My offer still stands Hiruzen, I could train the boy properly." Danzo said and Sarutobi looked at him as if he was serious.

"You already know my answer, Danzo. It won't change. I owe his parents that much." Sarutobi said and Danzo remained quiet for some time.

"If you owe his parents that much, then you shouldn't have let his life gone to shit." The Head of ROOT said with no hint of amusement in his voice. "I'm going to be honest, I did not like Minato. His ideals were far too similar to your own, but he had more spine than you. I am sure he would've handled things differently."

As much as Danzo utterly disliked the Fourth Hokage, he did have a begrudging amount of respect for him.

Namikaze Minato was perhaps the greatest prodigy barring Itachi to come out of the Hidden Leaf. Danzo pretty much knew that had Minato lived for a few more years and wasn't tied down by the official duties of the Hokage which consumed large amounts of time, he would've gotten even stronger and to be honest Minato to some extent reminded him of Senju Tobirama.

Not just because he was the fastest shinobi of his time like his formerly living sensei, but also because both were highly meticulous, shrewd shinobi and were realists who didn't hope for the best scenario, but rather played out situations to suit for the best result.

"You know about the Council. They wouldn't have-" Sarutobi was cut off by Danzo once more.

"Done anything once you put your final say in it. Sometimes I wonder why you lie to yourself so much. You didn't allow Uchiha Mikoto to adopt him, or the Ino-Shika-Cho group to at least raise him. Don't get me started on Jiraiya, the boy may be running a spy network, but he is leaving the son of his only student whom he considered a son here in the village alone as the people feed him with apathy and hatred." Danzo said not even bothering to notice the flinched expression of Sarutobi.

Whatever Danzo had said had been harsh, no it was cruel.

However the cruelty of his words did not take away the truth in it. Sarutobi could've done something about it.

However, he was a Jinchuuriki. A Jinchuuriki is a weapon no matter how much the term is sugarcoated and being the Hokage, Sarutobi unconsciously did just that.

"I'll be leaving now. Take care, Hiruzen." He said and left the room.

Shimura Danzo may be cold, but he did not like how the boy's potential was wasted. He knew that the Hokage was aware of his grades being tampered, lessons taught to him the wrong way yet for all his ideals Sarutobi did nothing.

Shimura Danzo wouldn't care that much simply because he was refused the chance to train the boy, his stunted growth would be blamed on the Professor and he would take no share of the blame that was to be put out.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in his office as he saw his rival leave the room. The words he said kept echoing in the chasms of his mind. All that he had said had been true. He needed to help the boy. But how?

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

"GOD! FUCKING DAMN! IT!" each word that was yelled with rage evident in his voice was followed by a large thud noise as Uzumaki Naruto's fists shattered against the thick trunk of the tree.

There were indents now in the tree, outlines of the shape of someone's fist could be seen clearly.

Splatters of blood were seen on the tree as it slowly made its way down along the lines of wood and downwards to the ground.

Above the place he punched were also more blood prints. Uzumaki Naruto was shedding tears and blood.

The warm liquid fell not just from his bruised and broken hands, also from his forehead as he had kept slamming it against the wall. He had very thick skin and took some time to injure himself, but now he could do it. He could harm himself.

Naruto did show suicidal tendencies before and having a village who hate you for your very existence coupled with the fact they barely acknowledge your existence does play with the psyche of a child.

Despite Hiruzen's promise and his drive to find out who he was, dark thoughts still loomed in his mind.

In a part of his mind he did hate the villagers. He never said it or voiced it, but a part of him hated them. When Sarutobi revealed him being part of a clan that was related to the Senju, the fucking founders of the damned village, he had also been angry.

He wondered if other clan members of nearly extinct clans were like this.

No they weren't, he had quickly concluded this in his mind. He remembered Uchiha Sasuke getting extra lessons at the Academy all because he was recognized at 'the Last Uchiha'. He was not the last, Sasuke's thrice damned traitor of a brother Itachi was also alive and out there.

And here he was an Uzumaki living in the Red Light District, while the Hokage held back information not only about his Jinchuuriki status but also his parents. With fury, and despair he brought his forehead against the dark bark of the tree.

Pain composed a beautiful tune as a high frequency noise erupted in his head, echoing deep into the depths of his mind as everything became dark.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

Uzumaki Naruto fell. He fell deep through an endless pit. Winds thrust against his body, the pressure weighing down on him made him feel that his entire body was breaking. In the midst of it all, he cried out of anger. Deeper and deeper, he fell into the abyss, not sure when it would come.

He yelled out of frustration and finally hit the floor of the endless chasm he had fallen into.

Water splashed on his face as jolted up and stood in shock. It felt like a large darkened hallway that was dimly lit. It sort of reminded him of the hospital, but it felt like a sewer system too. He walked across the place as his feet touched the moving waters every now and then. Then finally he stopped before a door.

It was large, far too large to be a gate.

It seemed more akin to the size of the gate the Village had in its entrance if it was probably around three to four times larger.. The red gate had splits in between and someone like Naruto could've easily stepped through them. However instinct told him to stop and turn around.

Then he saw it.

Two red large orbs glowing in the dark, a black slit present in them both. Then he heard a growl emerging from the dark end of the gate, or a he realized it a cage. Then the being came into view.

The beast was titanic, easily as large as the Hokage Monument. His teeth were bare for the world to see as some saliva dripped from it. The fangs looked like they could bite and tear through anything and the body of the beast had dark orange fur all across it. Its hands were large and seemed more humanlike which piqued his curiosity. However it was the slow and rhythmic movement of its nine menacing tails that made him freeze in a trance.

It felt like an overture to chaos that would be unleashed.

" **So, my jailor comes at last. How many times do I have to save your worthless life, ningen?** " the Kyuubi said and blond broke out of his momentary lapse as he looked at the beast.

"Is this place inside me?" Uzumaki Naruto asked and the Kyuubi smirked toothily as the blond felt a bit unnerved by that gaze even though the Fox was lying down clearly on the wet floor.

" **Seems you're not as stupid as I thought, but you're still stupid. Throwing a bitch-fit like that after a worthless girl dressed you down. How pathetic.** " Kyuubi said as he looked at the blond clench his fists.

"Shut up." Naruto said and the Fox looked at his with a raised eyebrow. "I may have made a mistake when I did what I did, but I don't expect you to understand."

" **And I don't want to. All you humans are the same. Always so concerned about yourself that you let even the littlest of things get to you. Wars have been started for less, for only something as despicable as humans could do such acts.** " Kyuubi said as looked at the blond. He then got up and looked down at the blond.

" **You're no different, selfish to the core like the rest of them. Now get out, I healed your wounds. I will not have my jailer, as much of a retard he is, dying for something as juvenile as that.** " The mightiest of the nine said before he was walking back into darkness, but the blond's words stopped him.

"Hey! Is there any way to change this place?" Uzumaki Naruto said out loud as he didn't move a single step from where he stood. The Fox looked back in surprise before he spoke.

"…. **What?** " Kyuubi no Kitsune asked in a confused manner.

"This place, can't I change how it looks?" the blond asked and the large Bijuu stood still before he spoke.

" **It's your mind. Whatever you want it to look like, it will take that form.** " No sooner had the Bijuu finished saying this the entire landscape of his mind changed to that of a lush green field with no end in clear sight. ' **Not bad for an idiot**.' the Kyuubi thought as he began to move away from once more, except it wasn't dark anymore.

The fake sun was there in the inner depth of his mind and everything was visible.

Once more the Kyuubi stopped.

"Before you go I just want to say one thing." Uzumaki Naruto said as the Kyuubi stopped to listen to his words. "Thank you!" he yelled as he put his head on the ground as a form of gesture and the beast had to look back in surprise.

This was a first for him.

A human thanking him….the Kyuubi no Kitsune being thanked by a human and his Jinchuuriki no less.

" **Just don't try to commit suicide again. I will not have my container being so pathetic or weak. The next time you do this, I won't heal you.** " the giant fox said and before he could retreat the blond teen spoke.

"Do you have a name?" Naruto asked and the Fox contemplated in thought about that.

" **You're not worthy**." Kyuubi said as he went back to resting showing that he had no further wish to speak.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

Uzumaki Naruto gasped as he got down on all fours after jumping off against the tree where he had been previously resting.

He breathed heavily for some time before realizing that all that had happened was true, but a better question was why did a bird shit on him? Ugh! Slowly reaching for the bottle, he took off the cap and poured the water on his shirt. Damn birds and their shitty actions.

He sat down and breathed until he was completely calm.

He had let his emotions get the better of him, once more. He had just read today on how a shinobi should always control their emotions and not let the enemy read them.

He had done just the opposite and this time had nearly managed to give himself a concussion, but the Fox had healed him.

He felt almost ashamed of himself, he had gone and thrown his life away because of a few words Sakura said. He shook his head.

He couldn't do things like those. Even though he was hated there were a lot of people who cared for him.

'Teuchi, Ayame, Iruka-sensei, Jiji.' He thought of those four people. Even though the Sandaime outright hid things from him, he still cared for him enough and Uzumaki Naruto was never really one to hold for grudges.

But he would take revenge for it in some way.

Sighing he went to the Hokage's office as he felt a bit drained today, mentally.

No use training in that state. Maybe the old man could give him a few pointers. He was the Hokage after all.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

"I see," the Sandaime said after hearing Naruto's eagerness to learn a bit more.

He could tell his Jiji was happy, he understood the old man in a way. He tactfully didn't mention the whole 'Headbanging' situation. He didn't want that guy with the long blond, ponytail to put his hand against his forehead for hours…again.

The first time he met that 'Mind' something guy was after he tried to commit suicide. He was nice, if not a bit overbearing and constraining him from a month of ramen.

In what noodle world did that make sense?

Oh yeah he nearly forgot.

"Jiji, you said something about you having…jutsu on Jinton?" Naruto asked and the Hokage looked at him for some time before he pulled out his drawer from his desk and held a scroll.

"This scroll is important, Naruto-kun. Make sure it falls into no one else's hands. However, I suggest you train more and improve your chakra control before learning jutsu from this scroll. Do not mess up." Sarutobi said as he held the scroll before handing it out.

Naruto took the scroll and gripped it with both hands before he spoke up again.

"Don't worry, Jiji." Naruto said with a small smile. "I…I'm gonna make sure that I use the whole month to train properly."

"Actually about that." Sarutobi said as he looked at the blonde with a nervous expression. "I think I have someone to help you out with your training."

"Who is it? Is it Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked with hope and joy.

That would be awesome if it was Iruka. However the Hokage shook his head before he spoke.

"It's someone else who's going to help you every now and then in a lot of aspects. A tokubetsu jounin and she's a bit….energetic like you, albeit in a different way. She also happens to know about your condition and the Jinton." That was all Sarutobi could say before there was a knock on his door and judging by the time, she had arrived early. "Come in."

And then the door opened and Naruto stared at the person who had entered the room.

She had light brown, pupil-less eyes. Her hair – a dark shade of violet he had seen once or twice - wass styled in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She wore a fitted mesh body suit that covered her from her neck down to her thighs. Over that she wore a tan overcoat with a purple in-seam and a pocket on each side, a dark orange mini-skirt, a dark blue belt, and pale grey shin guards. In addition to the typical forehead protector, she also wears a small pendant that looks like a snake fang and a wrist watch.

However her sultry appearance only made her developed body look that much more seductive and the blonde noted that she was rather gifted in the chest department and mentally fought back a nosebleed.

'I'm not a pervert. I'm not a pervert. I'M NOT A PERVERT!' he kept chanting in his mind as he tried to look away, but was failing. Ever since 'the talk' with Sarutobi last night, women had become so different in his eyes.

Perversion was truly both a gift and a curse. The slight jiggle and her wiggle didn't help.

'Down boy! She's older than you. She's more mature! She's much hotter and…damn it!' Naruto yelled inside his mind, and utterly failed.

"Looks like the gaki can't take his eyes off me, Hokage-sama." She said with a grin in a loud manner and Sarutobi noted that he may have been right in choosing her as his part-time sort of teacher.

Both were loud, energetic and often times prone to acting without thinking.

Maybe this could help the Tokubetsu Jounin in becoming a bit more responsible when she has someone to look after and Naruto would learn things from her, while building some form of resistance to seduction techniques.

Judging by Naruto's efforts to look away he couldn't and a foreign kunoichi could exploit this when the time came.

"Yes, Naruto-kun recently found out about the birds and the bees. So, excuse his behavior for now." Sarutobi said and the boy grimaced a bit. "Don't worry Naruto-kun, she'll be able to help you when she has time in between missions."

"I see. Arigato, Jiji." He said with a small nod of his head that could be almost considered a bow, considering Naruto's severe distaste for authority. He then looked at the dark violet haired beauty before he spoke, pink could be seen on his cheeks as he spoke. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you…um?"

"The Incredible and Sexy Mitarashi Anko!" She said with a pose as she held a victory sign near her eyes.

'Can't deny the second part, though.' Naruto thought not really believing how his mind was rather fixated on that statement.

"When can we begin?" Naruto asked. He really didn't want to do it today. He needed some rest to clear his head, plus he had to go and see Ayame. Good food equaled good body for fighting and endurance.

"From tomorrow gaki, come at Training Ground Thirteen and don't be late." She said and then leaned near him before she breathed hotly against his cheek making him squirm. "Otherwise, Anko-chan will do naughty things to you."

"Eh?!" He said and prominently fell off his chair as the Tokubetsu Jounin laughed before she looked at the Hokage again.

"He's like you said, Hokage-sama. Farewell." She said but not before winking at Naruto to tease him a bit more, and him blushing like that made her feel amused. 'Gaki is kind of cute though. More fun to tease him.' She thought as she exited the room.

"Jiji, what was that?" He asked and the Hokage had been chuckling at his predicament.

"That Naruto-kun was you being…..what do the young ones call it these days…ah yes, owned." He said and laughed a bit as Naruto grumbled incoherent sentences about stupid old men laughing to much for their own good.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

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 **Author's Notes II:** Le done! The suicide part is officially gone. Now, go and read the next chapter. Review people ! :D


	2. Gently Falls the Petal

**Author's Notes I:** I originally wanted to update this on the 31st, but studies, work, and a lot of procrastination didn't let me…so I published it two days later. The fact that I could finish it in such a short time was nothing less than astounding, which probably means I have improved or written something completely half-assed. As for the pairing, well Ino is definitely there. If there are more girls as love interests (potential) – which is unlikely – they will only be there if the story flows that way. Though I gotta say, Anko has a high possibility of ending up with him; Anko also happens to be younger in this story. As in she's around Itachi's age, who was around 18-19 in Part I.

You'll also notice that I changed my writing style a bit, something prominent ever since I rewrote my DxD/Naruto story. That said, enjoy or be annoyed by this new chapter.

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 **I don't own Naruto. I do however have a lot of other stuff. Sadly, none of them matter.**

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 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

Uzumaki Naruto considered himself many things.

A loudmouth. An S Rank Prankster. A shinobi who would make the world embrace the color orange. A lover of ramen. An outspoken individual with the confidence the size of the Hokage Rock, and wielder of an unpredictable mind. A future Hokage who would surpass all his predecessors.

But a coward, he was not.

If he was then he wouldn't have faced two chunnin by himself when the threat of death had been looming over his head coupled with his lack of true combat…it was impossible for him to make it out in one piece. Yet he fought, he persevered, he beat the odds, and broke their bones as he rained upon them a barrage of clones.

He – Uzumaki Naruto – was not a coward.

That is what he kept telling himself as screamed and shrieked like a girly, very girly girl, fresh out of the academy, as snakes hissed and sang, chasing him across the dark and dreary forest of Training Ground 44.

Internally he cursed himself for being naïve, it had been twenty days since he started training under the crazy – and sexy as she liked to point out half the time – snake lady.

It started out in a simple way.

Chakra molding and controlling exercises were small and meager tasks certainly not befitting of a future Hokage like him, as he put it. Despite his words that came off as brash and cocky, he proved his worth as he spammed, abused, and raped the shared memory experience of the clone.

Uzumaki Naruto was so happy when he saw the gleam of pride and joy in the eyes of the purple haired tokubetsu jonin.

That was his conclusion of course. Afterwards, the woman stated that she would be upping his training and conducting survival mission simulations. Now, while he was not the sharpest kunai in the pouch he did not expect Mitarashi Anko to actually _try_ to kill him.

Every day it was the same routine for him, it started with him running laps around, inside and outside the Forest of Death as he had to evade snakebites, shuriken, explosive tags, and a kunoichi who was without a doubt a Log damned sadist.

Did he mention he was wearing chakra weights too?

Of course it didn't end there, that was his warm up exercise as he now using nothing but brute force to jump. Had he not, he would've had a lovely little mark on his heel and poison in his bloodstream. Of course, he didn't expect a kunai to come whizzing out and cut his cheek.

Blood slowly leaked out and fell to the earth where the twin snakes hissed, and glared at him for not letting them bite him.

Why the heck should he?!

Slowly shifting his hand back to his pouch, he chucked a kunai at a tree where he was pretty sure Anko wasn't lurking around, given the trajectory of the previous weapon that tried to disfigure him.

A thin wire was tied behind the handle of the kunai he threw, and using it as a rope he yanked himself forward as he stood on the surface of the tree's bark.

Uzumaki Naruto caught his breath as he looked at the snakes not moving, they slithered there on the ground. Hypnotically gazing at him, their slow movements were subtle and mesmerizing as his danger senses scream at him. He ducked and sure enough, another kunai whizzed past him.

Then he froze.

No, not out of fear.

He felt something that made him shiver.

He felt two very soft 'things' press against his back, digging into him as the inner and newly acknowledged pervert inside him muttered something to him.

Words of indecency, lust, and debauchery rhymed in the dirtiest depth of his mind as he felt two arms wrap around his neck. They pulled him back further into the mushy area, as his entire face became red and steam puffed out of his ears.

"Ah~" a blissful moan reached his ears as he squirmed. A hot, _very hot_ breath brushed his neck as the fragrance of something sweet invaded his nostrils.

"U-Um," he stuttered out, mentally kicking himself for being nervous.

It wasn't the first time this happened.

However, at the end of the day he was a guy. He was teen, a hormonal teen no less, with certain urges that he couldn't release due to the sheer exhaustion his body took after training each day. This followed by his crazy temporary sensei doing these _things_ to him didn't help his situation.

For as far as he could remember, love and affection was something he was not given much – and those were two things he craved for.

This however...this was different.

"You only got one scratch, gaki. Don't you want your sensei to make a few more adjustments?" Anko asked as she tightened her hold on the flustered teen.

Naruto's mind scrambled as a chibi-Naruto with devilish wings and a tail appeared on his left shoulder, giggling lecherously, and give him two thumbs up.

Apparently this actual was real training. Kunoichi specialized in seduction missions, and what Anko was doing to the blond was apparently very lighthearted in terms of what she could actually do. He shuddered to think what else Anko had in store. The main problem was, and it was a guilty pleasure; he liked it when she did that.

Then of course came the blow to his gut and the orange clad teen was plummeting down to the ground.

Cerulean eyes caught sight of the two snakes rushing in at the spot where he would land. With a large thud, his body collided against the dampened, grassy field. As the snakes wrapped themselves around his arm and leg, respectively, the boy smirked. He looked up at the snake summoner whose brown eyes were curiously focused on him, and he mouthed one word.

'Boom'

True to his action, the body of the blond exploded and Mitarashi Anko felt a sharp, cold metal pressed against her neck.

"That was not easy to pull off," Naruto said as he held the kunai with a steady hand. He really didnt want to harm her despite her fatal way of training him. He liked Mitarashi Anko, she was a bit like him. However, in his mind, she was a fool to think dango was the food of the gods.

"So when did you switch out, gaki?" she asked with a sly smile forming on her face.

"Around the same time you took a break for thirty seconds," Naruto cheekily replied. Apparently having a gigantic fox in your gut had its perks.

Naruto's sense of smell and hearing had gone up for the past two weeks. He tried to talk to the fox about it, but the damn fox ignored him vehemently and had the gall to call him a 'simple minded idiot' for thinking that he would cooperate with such a weak jailer. The blond promptly told him that one day he would make said fox eat his words, to which the Bijuu told him that pigs would start flying sooner than that event happening.

"You're getting faster gaki."

"Swifter," he replied a bit cheekily.

Anko had to chuckle at that. It was true, he had been improving. Ridiculously too if she could add. Naruto himself was surprised at how much he could achieve once he put his mind to it, a part of him wondered if he would become Rookie of the Year if he paid attention to Iruka's lectures.

Unfortunately the boy had actually voiced this thought out loud and Anko being Anko, had smacked him on the head. The Snake Mistress, as he learned about her unofficial title later, apparently hated the curriculum with a passion that apparently her friend 'Nai-chan' matched.

Kunoichi were pathetic in her opinion and they were more akin to glass dolls.

Normally, Naruto would've yelled, argued, and pleaded that Sakura wasn't like them. She was Kunoichi of the Year after all. Now that he thought about it, she wasn't that good. Sure she was better than most of the girls, the only reason she sort of won that title was probably due to her large volume of knowledge.

"Swifter, but not that sharp yet," she said and disappeared in a puff of smoke as the real Naruto experienced the same thing his clone felt. Now, if only she wasn't poking his chest with a kunai right now.

"Do you have to do that all the time?" Naruto asked, pink staining his whiskered cheeks as his blue eyes averted the gaze from the playful expression Anko's face. Instead of receiving an answer, he felt something soft and round press against his right cheek.

Yup, Anko was rubbing her cheeks against his and he was not going to complain about it anytime soon.

"Aw, gaki," the Snake Mistress almost purred with a voice that he could only describe as alluring. "You're not screaming and flailing anymore."

It was true.

Twenty days ago when she hugged him for the first time he was yelling 'child molester' and whatnot. Apparently being a shinobi made you of legal age, but he would maintain some decorum dattebayo. Plus there were the Three Prohibitions to follow, which nowadays most people never did.

Women, money, and alcohol often times broke a shinobi. He was sure that a legendary shinobi would never mess with all three.

In some village where an onsen was, a white haired man sneezed.

"You said it yourself. I have to improve or a kunoichi will kill me sooner than I can think," Naruto said with small grumble. Not that he was complaining about this situation, but apparently the weaker sex's manipulation was one of his greatest weaknesses. Or as the Kyuubi told him, his ass was grass against women.

"What about me? Won't I kill you, gaki?" she asked as she pressed even further into him.

Naruto quickly used a substitution as he didn't want his pants to be a bit tighter from the nice warmth he was receiving from her sinfully, sweet body.

Pouting, the Snake Mistress let go of the log and crossed her arms under her chest.

"Don't worry about that, Anko-san," Naruto said as the pink was finally leaving his cheeks. Stretching a bit, he was sure that the warm-up run was over by now. He then smiled like the idiot he was and spoke, "Besides, I don't think you'd try to kill me."

"Oh really," Anko said with amusement in her eyes. "Why the fuck not, gaki?"

"Well firstly you're a kunoichi of the Leaf. Two, you're a pretty nice person," he said with a normal tone as he slowly began to descend down the tree, his feet walking across the dark wood.

"Hmph," she muttered quite haughtily. "As if, don't you know who I am?"

"Yeah, I do," Naruto said as he turned around and looked at her. His cerulean eyes intensely looking at her, "You're Mitarashi Anko."

"Come again?" she asked. While Anko didn't reveal her entire past to the teen, due to her obvious hatred of the past man who was in her life…she did not expect to hear an answer so blunt from him. She was however sure that he noticed that she would often get a few glares, hushed mentions and had a general lone nature with the exception of a few friends.

"Why? I said it once already, dattebayo," Naruto said as his eyes squinted.

Why were women like this sometimes? His Jiji told him that it was answer that even the Shodai Hokage didn't even know. Apparently he was quite afraid of his wife, who was an Uzumaki and from what the Sandaime told the blond, she was very, very dangerous.

"Forget it, gaki," she said as she walked with him now and both remained silent. It was only a matter of time, before one would speak.

Any minute now. The silence would break. Both of them were energetic, loud, and stubborn. Anko believed she was more stubborn than him and she would win. Unfortunately the whiskered blond teen's mind was elsewhere. Soon enough they had both made it down to the ground and were walking towards their usual training spot.

…

"Okay, gaki," Anko spoke a bit impatiently. The teen looked at her with a confused manner.

'I don't remember dissing on dango today,' Naruto thought as he feared for a kunai being aimed at his special place. That was apparently _the_ golden rule with Anko. You never, ever, ever place any food over dango.

"I'm going to ask you straight," she spoke as her brown pupils locked onto his blue ones. "Don't you see how some of the people glare at me? Don't you see how they talk about me or you when we're in the village together?"

"I kinda did notice," Naruto said as he shrugged his shoulders. He was used to it, well not completely but his day felt incomplete with the usual glare and hushed whispers of 'him', 'brat' and many other derogative terms.

He did notice that Anko too received similar glares, lighter ones to be exact, but they were there. Frankly speaking it wasn't his business and a part of him did want to pry into it, but some things were better left unsaid. He had an idea of how she felt about the whole thing, that was exactly the reason why didn't ask her or pressure her.

Uzumaki Naruto never judged anyone for who they were…Okay, except Sasuke but he was exceptionally gifted in the Art of Being an Asshole.

"And? I thought you'd be playing Twenty Questions about it now," Anko said with a bit of disappointment in her. She wasn't that close to the brat, but she had to admit that he was exceptionally cheerful and his attitude was one of a kind. That said, she was more or less getting used to interacting with the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi more.

The fact that he didn't seem to care about the similar slighted views she got made her feel a bit strange.

"Honestly, it's not my business to ask you about it. We all have matters we want to keep to ourselves," Naruto spoke with a shrug and then smiled a bit. His hand slowly rose and scratched the back of his head, an action he often did while speaking, "Besides it doesn't change anything."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just what I meant dattebayo!" the orange wearing genin loudly proclaimed while throwing his arms up in frustration. Why couldn't she just drop the issue? Troublesome, indeed. How could he fix this? He needed to be smart about it, he needed to be careful and….FUCK IT! He would say it just like he meant it.

Releasing a sigh, he spoke as he looked her dead in the eye and spoke with all the

"I mean that no matter what happens or any of the villagers say, you're still going to be Anko-san to me," Naruto said as he said it like it was the most obvious thing to the world. As if by Kami's will, winds blew in the forest and instead of creating a dramatic effect that one could hope for, dust flew in his eyes as he mentally cursed all that was not ramen and furiously rubbed his eyes.

Had he stopped and registered the Snake Mistress' reaction, he would've seen a pink hue caressing her cheeks as her brown eyes widened, and heard the soft, hushed gasp escaped her throat.

This was a new experience for Mitarashi Anko. She had friends, not many of them but she did have them. This was the first time a person she barely knew giving her such an odd sense of comfort and acceptance that she didn't think was possible. As she watched him childishly curse the dust particles, she couldn't help but laugh at his actions and the thing he had just said to her.

Now this was something the blond registered as her small act of happiness made him feel bewildered. He had seen her smirk, heard her laugh, and even threatened to carve away what made him a man but this….this was different. This was nice, the way her face relaxed and morphed into something that made him blush was amazing. Her laughter was like music and for the first time in his life, Uzumaki Naruto was speechless.

"Come on, let's go then," she said as the teen in front of her suddenly gazing at her with such an intense stare. It was weird for her as well, thankfully her words seemed to have broken his state of daze and confusion. As they walked along, Anko decided to mess with him a bit more, and by the Log she knew exactly what to do make this experience a memorable one.

"You know, Naruto- _kun_ ," she said, emphasizing on the suffix with a purr. Just as she wanted the blond teen, slowly craned his neck towards her and stiffened.

Uzumaki Naruto was a bit nervous. In the span of training and spending twenty days with the Snake Mistress she always – ALWAYS – called him 'gaki', 'blondie', 'Uzumaki', or 'ramen's greatest ass kisser', but never had she once called by his first name, that too with a suffix.

This was officially weird, this was dangerous and this was…her trench coat was on the ground?

Why were her hands slowly crossing and moving towards her hips?

Why was she smiling like that?

Why did her eyes have that glint?

Why was he internally liking how her arms were slowly tucking at her fishnet shirt?

Slowly, gently, cruelly she lifted her shirt as Naruto's blue eyes refused to move away from the sight before him.

"For saying something like that you get a reward, but you better not tell anyone," Anko said with a honey-like voice that entranced him, and all his efforts to not look at her got crushed mercilessly when she finally lifted her top off.

Praising the Log, the teen flew back.

Blood rushed out of his nose as he thanked the Gods of Ramen for letting him see something like that.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

"This is unusual," Sarutobi Hiruzen said with an annoyed tone as he lighted his pipe. The familiar taste of nicotine settled on his tongue, as he looked at the Council. The entire council consisting of both civilians and shinobi clans.

Normally he wouldn't have been in a sour mood, but a lot work was left today and the accursed volume of processed wood pulp resting on his office desk wasn't going away anytime soon.

He wanted to go home a bit early now and then. More so because his son, Asuma, had returned a few days ago.

Their relationship was strained to say the best and Sarutobi Hiruzen, not the Sandaime Hokage, felt that it was time he started mending that bridge.

Hearing a cough, he saw Kawagami Yusei was looking for permission to speak.

Giving a slight nod, the man began to speak.

"Hokage-sama, we requested for a meeting since it regards the future generation of Konoha's shinobi," Kawagami spoke and one Yamanaka Inoichi almost chuckled at the man's words.

A civilian trying to interfere in shinobi matters? The Mind Walker knew that the Sandaime himself must've been found this interesting. It was true.

The Hokage looked seemed amused at the words Kawagami said, but for boredom's sake he let the man continue instead of cutting him off. Shinobi matters outside the Academy didn't have any loopholes that the civilian class consisting of merchants, traders, other businessmen and women could exploit. The Old Monkey had a pretty good idea what the man was going to say, and true to his assumptions, the man's next words sealed the deal.

"- so it is with concern for the greater good we, the Civilian Council, respectfully request that the recession process of this current batch be brought to an end," Kawagami ended after making a lot of points.

The representatives of the Civilian Council seemed to nod their heads at his words, and to them the idea seemed alright. Their children had been studying hard for years, only to have their dreams at becoming a great shinobi taken away from them seemed cruel and inhumane.

"I see," the Sandaime Hokage said with a raised eyebrow. The man, Kawagami, had been talking for quite some time and his old, trusted pipe served as proof as the final puff of smoke was exhaled.

He looked at the clan heads and saw that they were not impressed.

Not one bit.

Personally speaking he was quite tired of the meetings that the Civilian Council often held. If it weren't for the fact that Konoha still needed a year or two before they finally recovered from the debt caused by one very orange and large fox, then there wouldn't be a Civilian Council in the first place.

His old friends, Koharu and Homura, supporting them was something he found distasteful and ever since the Uchiha Massacre incident his relationship with them was kept to nothing more than strictly professional.

"Inuzuka-san," the Sandaime spoke as he looked at the current clan head of the Inuzuka Clan. Inuzuka Tsume was a hothead by nature, but was composed when not provoked, and judging by the nearly annoyed look she had maybe it was best to let her loose on them.

No pun intended.

"What do you think of that?"

"Completely unnecessary," Tsume replied as her slitted eyes narrowed at Kawagami. She spoke, a tongue of steel forming sharpened words, "The overall skills that most genin now have is pathetic compared to the ones from the previous generation. I remember 10 year olds being more athletic than these kids, my own pup included."

Just like he expected, Tsume kept it short, crisp, and to the point. She didn't say anything wrong and it was true. Unfortunately the other half of the council didn't seem to agree with her opinion.

"They're only children, Inuzuka-san," another member of the Civilian side spoke. Sakazaki Tenchi, one of the more prominent rich men in Konoha, looked at her with a flabbergasted expression. "The reason why we agree to this is because we don't want another Uchiha Itachi to emerge."

"Uchiha Itachi was an exception," Yamanaka Inoichi spoke this time. The man looked at the Hokage and understood he was allowed to continue. "Even by bizarre standards, Itachi was different from most shinobi. I've studied his file at least a hundred times by now. He had PTSD before he was even admitted into the Academy after witnessing a great battle in the Third Great War. The reason why we, the Shinobi Council, agreed to the mutual agreement for the Academy was because this is peace time."

"Wait," Kawagami spoke again this time. He looked at the Yamanaka head and continued, "Yamanaka-san, are you suggesting that you would've agreed to let your daughter go out in the field when she was ten."

"Yes," Inoichi replied without a single hesitation. "If things had gone smoothly without the Kyuubi's attack, the overall conflict free period, and of course Uchiha Itachi's one man genocide…then yes. I would've let her go and become a kunoichi."

"But she's a child. Ten is not an age for children to enter a shinobi's world," another member exclaimed.

"I was nine when I graduated," the Sandaime said as everyone looked at him. "Back then, if you didn't graduate at nine you would be dropped out of the system."

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama," Sakazaki said, "things were different back then."

"Our class' graduating age was nine too, and all of us finished at the same time," Akimichi Chōza said as he looked at them. His mouth, apparently free of food at the moment, his mind however was not. He then sported a thoughtful expression before speaking again, "Except Minato of course. He graduated when he was seven."

"Troublesome blond," a lazy Nara muttered very softly as his head rested against his fist.

"Yondaime-sama, was exceptional. He was a special one and a prodigy in every sense," one of them said, praising the Yondaime. This man was none other than Riokade Kunio, owner of a chain of supply stores in Konoha. The Hokage's attention was fixated on him and the man idly wondered if he knew whose son he often overcharged on nearly every occasion.

"No, he wasn't'," the voice of the usually quite Aburame Shibi made itself known as the civilians looked at him as if he spoke heresy.

"Aburame-san, surely you jest," Kawagami said with an incredulous look. "Yondaime-sama single handedly destroyed the entirety of Iwa's forces. How could you undermine him like that?"

"Undermining him? No, that's not what I meant, councilman. Namikaze-san was an exceptional shinobi, from day one since all us knew him," the kikaichu user said, the lower half of his concealed.

"But you just said-"

"I meant in the regards of what you said by special," the Aburame clan head cut off the needless argument. "Namikaze-san did not come from any clan, he was an orphan like so many others. He was however, highly driven and had a tenacious dedication that none of us possessed. Hard work and brutal effort is the reason why Namikaze Minato became the legend he is today."

Sarutobi would've clapped if he had not been at this meeting right now. How perfectly he described Minato, except due to recent events surfacing he might be wrong about not coming from any clan. It may be an assumption, but the Hokage was willing to bet his hat that it the Swift Release unlocked by Naruto came from his father's side. Even before the Yondaime re-invented the Hiraishin, he was abnormally fast.

"Excellent point, Aburame-san," the Sandaime spoke with a bit of authority in his voice, which left very little room for argument. The Civilian Council knew that they wouldn't be able to interfere and while he was no Morino Ibiki, he did enjoy their deflated and lost expressions.

"The recession and selection program will continue as it is. Now if that is all then the meeting is adjourned," the Hokage said. However, Kawagami spoke again.

"Hokage-sama, there is another issue we wanted to speak about," the man spoke, and Sarutobi was almost tempted to flare his killing intent. This constant game of cat and mouse was becoming annoying.

"I see. Regarding what exactly?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," the man said and almost instantly every clan head looked at him, the Nara head opening both of his eyes as he observed the man. Kawagami continued, "We heard reports of the _boy_ roaming around with a Leaf headband, and since he's a civilian masquerading as a shinobi we demand he be punished-"

"He's not a civilian anymore," Sarutobi spoke. His voice, almost icy right now. He should've seen this coming from the beginning.

"Pardon, Hokage-sama? I think I misheard you," Kawagami said once more with his eyes threatening to bulge out as the Hokage gave his reply.

"You didn't hear me wrong. Uzumaki Naruto is officially a genin, and as such he has to wear the hitai-ate," Sarutobi spoke as he let the revelation sink in. It was something he kept from the general public because frankly it wasn't any of their damn business.

"But how? He failed the exams as he couldn't form the bunshin. To become a shinobi he needs to know the Academy Three," Sakazaki would've continued but Inuzuka Tsume's laughter didn't give him that space.

"Sorry, Hokage-sama. That was priceless," the Inuzuka clan head laughed a bit more and soon after the Akimichi head started laughing. Followed by other clan heads and the Hokage himself was holding back his mirth.

"Is this funny?" Kawagami said with a stupefied expression. "That… _brat_ gets to become a genin but civilian children, _normal_ people will get drafted?"

"Are you implying something, Kawagami-san?" Nara Shikaku said as he stood up straight and looked at the man with a serious expression. Something that was very rare, and highly unusual for any Nara in general.

"Apologies, Nara-san. But I don't understand your question?"

" _Normal_ ," the Jounin Commander repeated the keyword the civilian representative used. "You said that regarding the other graduates, yet you're singling out Uzumaki."

"Nara-san, surely you know what the boy is?"

"Of course I do," the shadow manipulator replied, each word slowly becoming louder. Most unusual for a Nara indeed and from the looks of it he wasn't done as he started to speak once more.

"He's jailing a certain fox. A fox so powerful that it would've trampled the entire village if the Yondaime, who was a sealing master, hadn't sealed the beast into a boy – who to this day unknowingly holds the beast at bay. So yes, Kawagami-san, I know exactly what the boy is. A normal boy with horrible chakra control, like so many of the other _normal_ people of this village."

Once more Sarutobi Hiruzen was astounded today. It seems that the clans were finally taking the matters into their own hands. Now that Naruto was a shinobi, things would change for him and from the looks of it Shikaku was already moving one of the pieces.

"Thirteen years ago, I made a rule," the Hokage spoke as everyone looked at him, the Nara's chilly words still affecting the civilian side. "No one was to tell the boy about the burden he bore, the beast he held back. That the Yondaime wanted the child to be seen as a hero. Instead he was treated like a pariah, avoided by elders and young ones alike. I tried every now and then to give the boy company, I couldn't due to my role. However, I did not expect people to treat him like that, to overcharge him for the basest of needs and finally to outright deny his existence as a normal person. A sad affair. Sad and stupid."

"That will be all for this meeting. Next time someone decides to call for a meeting for baseless discussions make sure to discuss it somewhere behind a dumpster," Sarutobi said and using a Shunshin, disappeared from the room. Slowly the civilian members left with annoyed and deflated looks. The shinobi was side was leaving except the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

"Something wrong, Shika?" Chōza asked as he saw his friend still sitting and adopting his iconic look that reeked of sloth.

"Nothing, just annoyed. That little rant made me drained," he said as he looked up at the ceiling.

"You know," Inoichi spoke, a small smile tugging at his lips. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was probably the most enthusiastic you've ever been at these meetings."

"Troublesome blond," Shikaku muttered as he saw said blond chuckling in mirth.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

"Troublesome blonde," Shikamaru muttered as he saw said blonde gritting her teeth.

Her platinum blue eyes stared at the lazy excuse of a human being whose current pace was slower than a dying snail's, his back facing her as his walk only ridiculed her pride further.

She was not someone who would be treated like this.

The clans Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi had been close allies traced all the way back to the Era of the Warring States. When Konohagakure was established, the trio were among the first ten clans that joined.

She – Yamanaka Ino – was not someone who needed her hand to be held. The fact that her father had been trying to make her eat more and gain a bit more weight came off as annoying.

She had stated, with confidence, that she was better than half of the students that graduated. Her father, her Daddy who she remembered spoiling her for nearly all her life, sighed at her behavior and for the first time was disappointed in her. Disappointed at her proclamation apparently and the head of the I & T Department had asked for a friendly spar between her and Shikamaru, of course he wasn't there as he had to go to damned meeting.

In her mind it was frustrating that she would not be able to prove him wrong regarding her strength.

Now she was grateful that he wasn't around.

The girl who was so vehemently in love with Sasuke-kun had been beaten soundly by the lazy sloth of a human being. When her spar began, she had the upper hand and was making Shikamaru stay on the defensive at all times. Of course that all changed when Yoshino-san had appeared with a frying pan that the Nara matriarch carried with her, reasons unknown, and the lazy-ass who barely ever showed interest in doing a task was re-energized.

Shikamaru, while staying on the defensive, didn't let Ino use her clan's secret technique. He kept molding shadows and kept subtly attacking her, whenever the distance increased he switched to projectiles.

However it wasn't a physical blow that made her lose the match. No, that honor belonged to Shikamaru's mind which intricately formed a web of nasty plots as she kept running and dodging the strikes.

Before she knew it, she was exhausted and was pouring out sweat.

Her body no longer had the fragrance of flowers and her special perfume she bought to impress a certain someone; she reeked of dirt, dust, grass, mud, and the natural odor a human body released when overworked. She couldn't even properly dodge by the time the shadows sneaked up and caught her, a bed of kunai and shuriken behind her as Shikamaru stated that he was going to lie down and watch the clouds. That ended the match right then and there.

That's what made her feel so frustrated, and the look that her mother was giving her did not help. Her mother, Mira, was from their clan too.

While she was not as famous or physically strong as her husband Inoichi, tokubetsu jounin was her highest rank before Yamanaka Mira retired. However, she was a master of mind games and was known to keep her husband in line. Ino often heard that her spunky and confident oozing nature came from her mother, she also knew that her mother was at odds with her.

Those issues would be her overall lack of physical training, her diet which Mira deemed as "unnecessary", her rivalry with Haruno Sakura she didn't even want to talk about, and finally about her love life.

"Let's go, Ino-chan," Mira said who had come behind her daughter. Ino was surprised, she didn't feel or hear her mother sneaking up on her like that. Her mind must've been entirely focused on the lazy-ass.

"No," she replied as she looked at the shadow user who was still walking away, his pace however increased when Yoshino yanked him forward via pulling his ear with a painful amount of force.

While she did enjoy the dilemma he was in right now, she felt angry at him too. She had never seen Shikamaru fight with so much fervor, she never knew he could do that in a spar.

Yamanaka Ino liked to think she was a good at deduction, it must've been a genetic trait given who her parents were.

That said, the fact that she was completely unaware of the Nara's combat aesthetics was frustrating her to no end. She had a guilty pleasure for unraveling mysteries, and Uchiha Sasuke's dark, mysterious aura only attracted her more in addition to his ridiculously good looks for someone his age.

A sigh broke her train of thought, as her mother spoke once more.

"There's no point in staying here anymore, Ino-chan. Come on, let's go home," Mira said. There was no room for any sort rebellion. Countering with a sigh of her own, Ino followed her mother as her mind began recounting the fight over and over and over again.

She had been outclassed by someone who she didn't consider strong at all. Sasuke-kun was the only person who could've beaten her in such a one sided fashion, is what she kept telling herself and the replaying images in her head told her otherwise.

Had she made a brutal error?

The boy she so vehemently loved made it look so easy when he would spar with others from the Academy as he would seamlessly counter all of their moves and make them look like children, as she, Sakura, and the countless, nameless girls would cheer him on.

Sure, he didn't voice his appreciation, but he would one of these days.

"Penny for your thoughts, dear?" Mira asked as her daughter looked at her with an expression bordering on almost annoyance and further questions that seemingly had no answers.

"Did you know?" Ino asked her mother as she turned around, her hair fluttering in the breeze. Again, she felt jealous of her own mother.

Physically, her mother was beautiful. No, scratch that. Her mother was drop dead gorgeous. Her mother didn't look a day over 28, her near silver-blonde hair came all the way down to her back, her figure was what she was aiming for and by dieting she would achieve it. In fact a lot of people thought they were sisters due to their resemblances.

"Know what, dear?" Mira asked, a small smile tugging at her lips.

Oh, she was playing that game.

"You knew," Ino almost hissed. Her mother, her own mother knew that she would lose against Shikamaru and didn't help her in preparing. This was treason, betrayal of the highest order and something she voiced. "You set me up to fail, didn't you? Along with Tou-chan."

"Set you up to fail? What parent would want that for their child?" Mira retorted and the small smile disappeared as she looked at her daughter, lips pressed and walking with an air of indifference with her. Ino was about to speak again, but it seemed her mother had more to say.

"Didn't you say that you could beat Shikamaru with minimal effort?" Mira asked, using the exact same words that Ino had used whilst predicting the outcome of their match. "When you so confidently said it, I thought you knew all about his abilities. Clearly, your father and I were wrong."

"That wouldn't have happened if he didn't use cheap methods. If he let me use the Shin-"

"Let you?" Mira said with a surprised tone, cutting off Ino. "Let you use your jutsu to control his actions? To let you win the match? To let you walk away with a clean and one-sided victory?"

Yamanaka Ino for the first time in her life had no retort to such a response. How could she? Her mother had broken down whatever argument she was going to build up. Long before they knew it, they were back in the Yamanaka Flower Shop, and her mother was busy setting up the shop.

Ino stood still in the center of the room as she watched her mother, working as if nothing had happened. Was she overreacting? Maybe…Okay it was more than a maybe, but this was Shikamaru she had lost to and her mother's limited verbal lashing was not helping.

"Kaa-chan," Ino spoke and her mother stopped watering the lilies who were craving for more. "I get that you're angry at me for not being as strong as I thought I am-"

"That's the problem, Ino-chan," Mira said as she put the watering can down on the desk, making a bit of a thud noise. "It seems like you still don't get it."

"Get what?" Ino asked, obviously confused by her mother's statement.

"You know, the girl I raised was much smarter than the Academy graduate in front of me," Mira said with a smallest of bit of disappointment in her voice, something Ino caught on to immediately.

It made her flinch, yet the blonde teen hid it well. No, she wouldn't appear to be weak. She was not weak.

"You always said that you were better than most of the graduates, and you quite clearly told me that barring the Uchiha no one could beat you from your class," Mira said without a hint of amusement or teasing. Her mother used to tease her about the Uchiha when she was younger, something she stopped for two years now.

"Well it's true. If Shikamaru fought fairly-" Ino tried to continue, but her mother was apparently not holding back.

"Fairly? Ino-chan, shinobi don't fight fairly. They never do, and if you're going to be a kunoichi then you'll probably face something worse than death," Mira said and her daughter unconsciously gulped. Ino knew what her mother was talking about, the constant talks of how recently kunoichi were being caught and treated as sex slaves.

She despised the action and would prove she was different but her mother clearly didn't think that way.

"I know. It's just I didn't expect Shikamaru of all people to fight like that," Ino said in a weak tone, and her mother sighed softly at her words. She didn't dare to go closer, she was disappointed. She had let her mother, her father, but most of all she let herself down.

"That just goes to show that nearly anyone in your class could beat you," Mira said and this triggered something in Ino.

Okay, that was bullshit.

"Kaa-chan, I love you and I may have lost but no," Ino said with a stern voice, confidence once more taking its rightful place. "Not everyone can beat me. Maybe Sasuke-kun and Shikmaru but none of the rest."

"Okay, what about Choji?" Mira asked and before Ino could point out why exactly she would win, her mother raised her hand. "Once he becomes angry after you call him fat."

…That was different. Choji did not like being called fat, he once crushed a chunnin by sitting on him. The entire weight of the Akimichi heir focused on the man's spine. It was a cruel action.

"Moving on. What about the Inuzuka boy? From what you've told me, the only one he has never won against was the Uchiha boy. That counts for something, right?" Mira said and once more Ino could not deny the logic in her words.

"The same can be said for the Aburame heir too. Their clan rarely uses taijutsu, they rely on their kikaichu to do their work for them," Mira said and Ino groaned as she remembered the bugs that constantly buzzed around the creepy dude who hid his face. She did not _want_ to fight against him.

Gross. Then she remembered something.

"What about Hinata? I've beaten her several times before," Ino said as she remembered how the Hyuga heiress would often forfeit the matches against her.

"Oh yes. I forgot about her. Hitomi's daughter," Mira said with a sad look in her eyes before she smiled, Ino had no doubts that her mother was thinking about Hinata's dead parent. "She looks a lot like her, and is perhaps even kinder than she used to be."

"Pardon?" Ino had to ask.

"Well, Hitomi also used to throw matches like that. In her own words, she could never harm her friends or people she cared about – mock spar or not," the silver-blonde haired woman replied as Ino looked a bit shocked at her words. "Don't be so surprised, Ino-chan. I'm pretty sure that Hinata has no doubt forfeited a lot of matches, and not just against you."

The words hit her like a sledgehammer. It was true, Hyuga Hinata did not have a single mean bone in her. She always wore those baggy clothes, stuttered nervously, and had a crush on of the biggest, thickheaded idiot in the world.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

"AHCHOO!"

"Found you!"

"Oh crap baskets!" Naruto yelled before he avoided a volley of shuriken, poisoned shuriken no less, as he jumped forward trying to live another day.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

"Also you really don't get to talk about Sakura," Mira said as Ino looked at her mother with the slightest of anger.

Why couldn't she talk about Sakura? Hell both of them were nearly as strong as each other and….

Oh.

"See? Not one person, Ino-chan," Mira said with a wistful expression, disappointment and sadness clearly evident in her pale blue eyes. Ino didn't like how her mother had that expression, but she felt much more worse.

'Damn it!' Ino internally yelled and turned around at her recent revelation. Every word her mother had said was right, she was only better than the civilians and…

Should she count him? He really didn't have any great skills to mention, he couldn't even do the simple Bunshin?

Who failed at such a task like that?

He was loud, obnoxious, brash, wore orange and most of all tried to prove that he was as good as Sasuke. Pfft. As if. Their skills, personality, and pretty much EVERYTHING were on the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Uzumaki Naruto had no great or good qualities.

Okay, maybe she was being a bit harsh. Unknowingly her hand came up to rest on her chin as she thought about the blond haired boy. Okay, maybe she praised his guts for even thinking about putting Sasuke in the dust. Also, he never, _never_ quit. His tenacity was unrivaled.

Except the last day of the Academy. He had failed again and she had seen the hopeless despair in his blue eyes. She was there with Shikamaru and Choji when they saw Naruto's face twist into a shape they had never seen.

It was almost like-

"Ino-chan," her mother's voice broke the young blonde out of her small thought and Mira noted how Ino stood. There was a look in her daughter's eyes, and Ino knew for a fact that her mother caught on to it. "Is something wrong?"

"Um, no," she tried to lie. Maybe her mother would buy it and-

"You're lying."

Well…shit.

"I was thinking about someone."

"Is it a boy?"

"Yes."

"Ino-chan, honey…look. I get that you like the Uchiha boy, but," this time it was Mira who was cut off.

"Actually it's about another boy," Ino said and her mother sighed. A frustrated sigh no less.

"Look if it's another one of those civilian merchant's sons then-"

"No! It was about that Naruto-baka!" Ino said a bit too loudly, and far too quickly. Damn it. Stupid Naruto making her speak loudly cause he looked depressed on the last day. However, the look on her mother's face distracted her more.

"Oh," Yamanaka Mira said as she lifted her index finger to tap her lips. "I haven't seen him in a while."

"Haven't seen him? Wait…you met him?" Ino asked a bit surprised at this discovery(?).

"A couple of times. He actually buys flowers from us sometimes. Though he always comes in once a month," the Yamanaka Matriarch said as she adopted an even more thoughtful expression on her face.

Okay, this was officially getting weird for Ino. Her mother apparently knew Naruto, NARUTO of all people and was concerned about him not showing up. But an even larger issue was that Naruto bought flowers. Was this Narnia?

"Kaa-chan, this is Naruto we're talking about. Why would he buy flowers?" Ino said with a bit of huff. Damn blond always annoyed her.

Okay maybe not her, but she was glad that he had a crush on Sakura. Every day he would ask her out and the result was the same as usual: a loud scream of 'Naruto-baka' followed by one punch from Sakura. Still she had to hand it to him, after asking out Forehead that many times, he didn't give up.

"Actually he's been buying flowers ever since he was nine. It was right after the Uchiha incident," Mira said and stopped for a moment as her eyes widened. Ino caught this and decided not ask about whatever it was regarding the Uchiha issue. That was part of the reason why her fascination for Sasuke increased.

The poor boy must've been broken, and she wanted to comfort him. Then one day, at this Ino blushed, maybe they would get married. She raised her hands to her flared cheeks.

"Ino-chan, are you thinking Naruto?" Mira asked seeing the flushed expression of her daughter, her mother also had a wry smile on her face.

Her blushing and gushing over Naruto? Suuuure.

"Yeah, right. Me ever caring about that orange wearing loudmouth," she added with a bit of anger as she crossed her arms. "The day that happens, I'll gladly give up my feelings for Sasuke-kun."

"Oh yes, I forgot. What about him? Could you beat him?" Mira asked, a bit too zealous to her daughter's taste.

"Beat him? Hah! I could probably beat him with one arm tied behind my back. His skills as a shinobi are horrible. He can't aim like Sasuke-kun, or fight like him. Plus Naruto thinks he can be cooler than him," Ino said, her voice slowly becoming louder as she saw her mother shake her head.

"True, but he's not Uchiha Sasuke now, is he?"

"Of course he's not. He's Uzumaki Naruto. Loudmouth, dobe, and perhaps the greatest idiot in the world who can't even perform Bunshin, claims that he'll be Hokage one day," Ino finished, no mercy present in her statement as she brutally described an orange wearing teen.

"Uzumaki Naruto couldn't do the normal Bunshin? Well," her mother spoke and Ino nodded her head. Yup, even her mother had to agree with what she said. "That's not surprising."

"Yeah and….wait, what?"

"Hm, what do you mean, Ino-chan?"

"No, no, no. What you mean by 'That's not surprising'," Ino asked as her mother adopted a thinking pose before speaking.

"Well when we were kids at the Academy, there was this one girl who was a bit like Naruto. She also couldn't perform the Bunshin and failed at it every time. Always making a dead, washed out excuse of a clone," Mira said and her daughter giggled at her mother's words.

"Yup, that's pretty much the same with Naruto. Who was this classmate of yours? A civilian?" Ino asked mildly interested in seeing the person.

"Actually as far as I remember she became an ANBU before retiring," Mira said and kept the tone neutral so that her daughter would be experience shock and awe.

"WHAT?" Ino asked, not believing what her mother had just said. A person who like Naruto failing at the Bunshin became an ANBU? How? In what way did that make sense? Maybe her wizened mother could answer the question. "How did that person became an ANBU? Let alone a shinobi?"

"Ino-chan, you must already know that the Academy Three is pathetic," Mira said not bothering to sugarcoat her words, and her daughter flinched slightly at that. She continued, "The main reason this person in our class couldn't perform the simple Bunshin was because her chakra reserves were very, very large."

"Large? How large?"

"Hmm, how do I put this?" Mira wondered before she snapped her fingers. "Let me put it like this. If your father and I pool our chakra, it still wouldn't be half as much as she had. I suspect that Naruto has the same problem. His chakra reserves must be massive, so he has horrible control and not being able to perform a Bunshin because of the tiny amount it requires. If he's horrible at the Leaf exercise too, than that just proves my point."

Ino's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. Uzumaki Naruto couldn't do the Bunshin because he had insane amounts of chakra in him? But that would mean he had more chakra than Sasuke-kun and…This didn't make any sense. Yet it didn't change anything. Uzumaki Naruto had failed, for the last time no less.

"Oh, look at the time," Mira said as she looked at the clock. "Time to get ready."

"Okay, I'll-"

"No you won't," Mira said surprising her daughter. This time her mother had a serious expression on her face. "Today's match with Shikamaru showed how much you've been slacking off, Ino-chan."

"I wasn't slacking off, I was-"

"I don't want to hear it young lady. If you're going to be a kunoichi, then you'll be a proper one," Mira said in a tone that made Ino fume a bit.

"But, Kaa-chan, I-"

"Look, Ino-chan," Mira said with a much more tired expression this time. "The only reason why we didn't pressure you all throughout your Academy years was because honestly we wanted you to enjoy your childhood. This era of peace that you kids got was very rare compared to what we had. We grew up during the time of the Second War and fought in the Third. I pray to Kami that there will never be a Fourth."

Ino had feel a little guilty at her mother's words. It was true, they never really pressured her into anything. She chose to become a kunoichi in the footsteps of her parents and live up to the Yamanaka Clan's name, while becoming head one day.

"However, you have a hitai-ate now. You're not a child anymore, and believe me when I tell you you're not ready for the world outside," Mira said is a grave tone and Ino said nothing, she merely stood, listening to the words her mother said. "Being a shinobi, a kunoichi, is no small matter and simply daydreaming that a prince in brooding armor will come to save you is nothing less than pathetic."

That hurt, those words hurt her as she felt her chest constricting. Her mother was calling her dream, her passion pathetic. Being a teenage girl, she made the only decision that felt rational to her in the heat of the moment.

She ran, her mother's yell resonating behind her. Ino bit her lower lip and held back the tears that were threatening to form at her eyes.

She was not pathetic, damn it! She was Yamanaka Ino, daughter of Inoichi and Mira. She was a kunoichi, and she would prove her parents wrong. But how?

Then an idea clicked in her mind as she raced over to the Academy. She knew it was closed because apparently there was some work going over determining the amount of students, the issue was regarding an influx of graduates if she didn't hear it wrong. Just like she wished, it was empty and there stood a tall towering tree.

Well not towering per se, but for someone of her height it was pretty tall and to be honest, it was much more taller than most of the trees here. Apparently the Shodaime planted it here when he..'Uh,' Ino thought as she cringed. 'I'm remembering one of Iruka sensei's lessons. I really am hopeless'

Moving forward and focusing her attention on the tree, she had seen her parents often walking on the wall, and remembers them telling her it was a chakra control exercise that genin learned nowadays after they join their teams. Surface clinging, or rather wall walking. In this case it was tree walking.

What she did a few moments back was no doubt childish, and very fan-girlish.

Yeah, the Yamanaka heiress was not proud, but she was stubborn and would prove her parents wrong. She would prove them wrong, by climbing the entire tree using nothing but her feet.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

"Oh ramen, what would I do without you?" Naruto said loudly as he walked by himself. Six bowls of miso ramen, he was allowed to go an extra bowl up today because Anko thought he deserved a treat.

Oh boy, that woman was driving him crazy. Crazier, if that was even possible. Still he had to admit that not only was she beautiful, but had a body that made his mind go numb. The fact that she teased him with a kiss on the cheek, saying that there would be more in the future if he improved only made him shiver more.

Unknowingly he giggled a bit, then he slapped himself. He was not a pervert.

Nope.

He was not a pervert.

He was not a-

" **Shut up, you closeted pervert,** " the Fox inside his mind spoke and the blond lost his bearings. His mood soured at the words his prisoner said. Yeah, that sounded good. His prisoner. His captive. His bitc- " **I highly suggest you don't finish that word, ningen. Otherwise becoming the Hokage will become the least of your worries.** "

'Ah, I love you too,' Naruto thought and heard the kitsune snarl at the words. Ah, yes. This was a new thing the warden and the prisoner started. Simply put, they would insult each other. It wasn't a game, and Naruto wouldn't have done it if the Fox didn't start it.

He was innocent.

" **Innocent. Yes and I'm a plushy toy,** " the Kyuubi spoke, sarcasm lacing his words.

'Wait how do you know what a plushy toy is?' Naruto asked curiously.

"…."

'….'

"…. **Go fuck yourself, assclown.** "

"And they call me childish," Naruto said a bit out loud as people stared at him with a confused stare. Well some of them glared at him, and right now he didn't feel like taking shit from them. So he looked at them before putting on an annoyed expression on his face and speaking in a cold – badass as he called it – voice, "Are you lookin' at me?"

They said nothing but continued to stare at him, this time with a little bit of worry. Time to capitalize.

"Huh? What? I got something on my face, dattebayo?" Naruto asked, his volume growing louder and him taking a step forward. They stepped back.

This was fun.

"Well?!" he asked bit too loudly, and before long they looked away. One of them was going to say something, but Naruto promptly flipped him the bird.

'Man, I've been hanging out with Anko-chan too much,' Naruto thought in his mind. Apparently he was to call her Anko-chan now as she insisted on it, if he didn't he'd lose his manhood which would fed to her snakes. He liked his penis where it was thank you very much.

Before long he stood in front of the Academy, and looked at the building. It was a tough, and biased, time there but he was glad that this phase of his life was over. He'd miss the Academy, well not that much but in a way he would. Except Iruka sensei's arduously long and boring lectures.

Oh Kami, even now he shook in fear. His mind screamed like a girl at times when the lectures would seemingly last forever. In fact, he could hear the girlish scream. Too loudly.

'Kyuubi, are you screaming like a girl?'

" **Why the fuck would I do that you idiot?"**

'Well where's that scream coming from?'

" **From outside you intellectually, inferior low-life."**

Oh boy.

Snapping his head at the origin of the scream he saw something purple falling out of his hangout tree. It was a person and without a second thought he ran.

If he wasn't fast enough, that person would fall and hit the ground pretty hard.

Putting his good training to use, he molded the chakra inside him and it spread like adrenaline in his body. His eyes sharpened as everything around him became a tad bit slower, his eyes wandering and observing everything around him.

 **"Jinton: Shoki Bāsuto (Swift Release: Initial Burst)"** , Naruto muttered as he felt the rush in his body escalate.

This was the most basic technique in the scroll his Jiji had given him, the first technique any Jinton user needed to know. The same move he had instinctually pulled off against Mizuki and his partner in crime. Only this time it was a calculated step.

Oh how proud he felt.

Moving at high speeds that only seemed like a yellow blur to the general populace the Jinchuuriki moved at high speeds and took four steps on the bark of the tree before jumping into the air. His target was close and he caught the person who was falling.

He was pretty glad it was a girl, he saved it would've been severely weird to catch a dude in a bridal carry. Now that he noticed it, the girl in his arms was cute. She had pale blond hair, not as awesome his sun-kissed hair with red streaks, but it was pretty cute. He liked it when girls had long hair, suited them well and then when her blue eyes opened to look at him, he realized who it was.

"Oh," he said almost disappointed, "it's you."

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

Yamanaka Ino was not sure how she felt about this.

She had somehow managed to get up to the top of the tree. No, not entirely by walking up.

She had climbed up and tied a rope to one of the higher branches, just in case she fell. Being prepared was a good thing, however walking down the tree was much more harder than getting up. She managed to get a few steps before she would fail at the task.

Honestly, it was tiring too.

In fact when she thought about it, it was a stupid decision.

She was already exhausted from her fight with sloth incarnate, and tree walking was not a good idea. As if karma had been personally listening to her, her rope tore under the pressure and she fell. Her body achieved terminal velocity and she would plummet down to be hurt…badly. She wished that Sasuke or anyone showed up and caught her.

Bending forward and curling up like a child in a bed, she simply decided to wait for the pain to tear away at her.

However the crash never came. She felt someone catch her and move away at a rapid speed that messed with her senses. For a moment all she could see was the world blurring past her, a kaleidoscope of colors exploding as her eyes animatedly got lost in this accelerated view of the world. She quickly realized that she was in someone's arms, said someone was also emitting a large amount of warmth which she subconsciously liked.

Then she opened her eyes and looked at the person as the world came back to the normal view she was accustomed to.

He had tanned skin. Cerulean eyes that pierced into her own blue, and wild, shaggy hair shooting out in every direction with streaks of red in them. His face was cute too, especially the whisker marks-

"Oh," her savior spoke. His voice so…annoyed? "it's you."

Wait, wait, wait.

Whisker marks, blond hair with red streaks, and blue eyes.

The guy who saved her was Naruto.

"Well," he spoke with a slightly annoyed voice. "Are you going to get down or what?"

"W-what?" she stuttered and mentally kicked herself. He sighed and put her down on the ground, small patches of grass strewn here and there.

She then looked up at him and was a bit surprised.

He was still wearing orange, but not his thrice damned jumpsuit and it was only just the pants, which also had black tapes around his shins. He wore a black, short sleeved shirt with red running down on the shoulders and both sides. He also wore his goggles around his neck, letting a fringe of his hair rest on his forehead.

She had to admit, he looked different without that usual jumpsuit of his. Also? Had he thinned out a bit? His hair was also slightly wilder?

"Ino, you're staring," Naruto said making her stop inspecting him with her curious gaze. He looked up at the tree with squinted eyes and looked back at her. "What were you doing up there anyway?

"I was," she spoke in a much more composed manner now. "Tree walking."

"Tree walking?" he asked and naturally her mind remembered the idiot from the class.

She almost forgot who he was.

"Yeah, idiot. Tree walking. Not that you'd know what it is," she said as she crossed her arms and waited for the loud retort to come. Instead she heard a sigh and saw him shaking his head.

"Well, good luck with that," he said and began to walk away.

Uzumaki Naruto didn't retort.

He was walking away.

"Wait!" Yamanaka Ino uncharacteristically yelled and stood up. She then got down on one knee as she let out a yelp of pain. Her left leg ached like hell and she guessed that the yank of the rope before her fall must've put the entire pressure on the limb.

"Oi, you okay?" she heard and saw the resident prankster of Konoha looking down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I fell out of a tree, and my leg is bruised. How the hell am I okay, dobe?" she said and this time she noticed his cerulean twin orbs sharpening at her frame. Yamanaka Ino felt nervous under such a gaze.

In all her life at the Academy, she never saw the loudmouth look at _anyone_ like that. True they weren't the best of friends, hell she doubted if they were friends but that didn't mean he should look at her like that. It must've been the way she called him dobe.

"Sorry. I was trying to be nice, but clearly you missed it," he said and spoke again. "Goodbye then."

"Wait," once more the clan heiress spoke and the boy shook his head again, clearly not amused.

Okay this was becoming officially weird for Yamanaka Ino.

Since when did Naruto act so…normal?

It was eating away at her brain.

"What?" he asked as he crossed his arms, not even bothering to spare her a glance. Now that made her nearly snap at him.

Who the hell did he think he was? Just because he saved her from falling down into a lot hurt didn't mean he had to treat her like that. She'd rip him a new one for that later, but needs came first when the devil drove.

"I need help," she said with a stern tone. He snorted.

How dare he?

"Why should I help you? I already saved your ass once."

"Don't you see how I'm limping?!"

"I still don't see how that's my concern, dattebayo."

"Damn it, you idiot. You're going to leave a maiden like this?"

"Maiden?" he asked with an amused tone. "Suure."

"I can't believe someone like you actually buys flowers from our shop." Ino almost hissed out at the way the blond was treating her.

No boy ever treated her like she was…normal. Boys would mostly swoon at her, however Uzumaki Naruto did not. Perhaps he was too stupid to function sexually. Yeah, that explained it.

No, he had a pervy jutsu that proved otherwise. Nope, he was just plain stupid. Other boys would've relished at the opportunity to escort Yamanaka Ino back to her home.

"Well last I check it's a free village, I can buy anything I want," he replied and was going to continue, but preemptively stopped. He then smacked his forehead against his palm, quite loudly no less.

She was starting to wonder if he was mentally challenged too.

"Stupid Naruto, how could you forget?" he muttered to himself, but she heard the words and the tone he used. It was almost remorseful and as if he were kicking himself. The cerulean eyed teen then looked at her before speaking, "Fine. Get on."

He then turned around and got down one knee.

Naturally not one to let this go, she had to ask.

"Why the sudden change in heart?"

"I…" he stopped and his voice seemed a bit heavy, guilty almost. "I need to buy some flowers."

"Oh really, for what?" she asked with a confident smirk on her face.

"I need to go to the cemetery. Haven't been there in a while," he replied and this caught her by surprise.

This was something not expected from Uzumaki Naruto. She wasn't sure how to reply to something like that. Still…

"Who is it for?" she asked with a much lighter tone. As if appreciating her gesture, she saw his shoulders slacken a bit.

"Someone who used to care about me," was all he said and motioned for her to get on. Not pressing the issue further, she put her hand on his shoulders and almost gasped. Almost.

Uzumaki Naruto had very, very broad shoulders for someone his age.

How come she hadn't noticed before?

Oh right, the jumpsuit. Dismissing the thought, she got up on his back and fragrance of fresh leaves hit her like a storm. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she breathed in the dew and relished in the warmth he was emitting.

It was so peaceful, so…nice.

She felt him shake a bit, and realized why as her cheeks reddened. Her chest was pressed against his back, and like any natural teen both of them felt a bit awkward about this.

"Right," he said with a cough and got up.

Unconsciously she tightened her grip around his neck.

His calloused hands slowly reached for her legs, and instead of tracing his hand across her smooth legs even under the guise of an excuse, he rather held her heels. They said nothing, as they walked along the road earning the glances of many a person.

For Yamanaka Ino, this was a strange experience.

Sure, it was Naruto who was carrying her and that fact alone almost made her want to get down. On the other hand, she could feel his muscled, toned back and the warmth. The warmth was so different from anything she felt.

"So why were you tree walking in the first place, Ino?" he asked, deciding to break the ice.

"You know what tree walking is?" she asked, she couldn't even try to hide her surprised.

"Yes, I know," Naruto replied with a small pout. He then sighed, telling him that he was just helping her like he would any other person in need. Still the fact that she called him dobe didn't put in any positive points in his book.

And besides, she was Yamanaka Ino. One of the most popular girls of his batch and an heiress to a clan, what would she care of what he thought about her? She was just his classmate. Nothing more, nothing less.

"That's weird. You knowing things about actual shinobi arts," she said and heard him chuckle.

"I'm slow, Ino. Slow, not stupid. Though you and Sakura-ch…Sakura seem to think otherwise," Naruto stopped himself from adding the suffix to the pink haired girl's name. Something that he would need to get used to at one point.

"Wait…not, 'Sakura-chan'?" she asked incredulously.

This was different.

She was definitely in Narnia.

"Things change, Ino. People change too," he said and then stopped. His head looked up at the Hokage Monument, his eyes focused on the Fourth Hokage. Sure he now had a bone to pick with the guy, but at the very least it showed that the Yellow Flash trusted him enough to make him the jailer of the most powerful Bijuu.

Uzumaki Naruto would become Hokage, or he'd die trying.

Ino curious about his sudden stop, raised her face and saw he was intensely looking at the Hokage Monument. She rested her face on his shoulders and for the first time she let out a small gasp. His face looked so different when he was serious. Almost….like-

"Ino-chan," she heard her mother's voice and looked at the direction from where it came. Oh, she was standing outside their flower shop. The trip ended quicker than she thought. Well that was a bummer…wait what?

"Kaa-chan," Ino said, looking a bit downtrodden. Her mother was right, she was path-

"Wait…'Kaa-chan'?" Both Yamanaka females looked at the ramen loving teen as he had a surprised expression on his face.

Disbelief entered his mind as he looked at Ino's face on his shoulder and the woman before him. He sort of knew the woman.

He used to buy flowers for his own little pots at home, but more importantly he used to buy white lilies from that silver-blonde haired woman to lay it on his Miko-oba-chan's headstone. Admittedly and shamefully he hadn't visited her grave ever since he became a genin and that felt very hypocritical to him. However he did not know that this woman, very beautiful woman he added in his mind, was actually Ino's mother.

Now that he thought about it, they did look a bit similar except the woman's hair almost gave her an ethereal look.

Though Ino looked a lot scrawnier by comparison. Okay maybe he was being a bit harsh on her for the dobe term and the fact that she used to be one of those girls who yelled at him whenever he fought against their 'Sasuke-kun!'.

"Yes," both females replied. One of them curious, and the other one smiling at the question. He would've scratched the back of his head, but he'd probably end up ruffling Ino's hair so he decided to smile instead. "Wow, I always thought you were her older sister or cousin."

"My, what a kind young man," Mira replied with a smile. It wasn't the first time someone said that, and honestly she liked being told she was young. Back to the matter at hand, she certainly did not see this coming. The son of an old friend of Mira's, who passed away unfortunately, had her dear daughter on his back.

It was a cute sight too. She then spoke, "You haven't come here in a while."

"Ah, sorry about that," Naruto instinctively said it upon seeing her face taking on a thoughtful expression. "I uh, had some things to take care of."

"No need to apologize, Naruto," the matriarch replied and looked at the boy. "We all need our personal time."

"That's true, dattebayo," he said with a smile of his own. Yeah, this woman was another one of the few people who treated him normally. Not to the point where Uchiha Mikoto cared about him, but she was a nice lady too.

"Other than that, may I ask why you have my daughter on your back? You two weren't planning to run away, were you?" she asked. Her voice teased, as Mira's lip twitched upwards.

"Me?" both of them said at the same time. "With him/her?"

Then both blond and blonde proceeded to look at each other with annoyed stares before Naruto looked away as Mira giggled at their interaction.

"Anyways, Yamanaka-san, I-"

"Call me by first name, Naruto," Mira said as she crossed her arms. She then had an expression of mocked despair on her face as she spoke, "Calling me 'Yamanaka-san' makes me feel old."

"Um, right. I uh never knew your name," the Jinchuuriki honestly replied.

"How could you? After all those flowers I gave you," Mira said and Ino snorted at her mother's acting abilities. "It's Mira."

"Right, Mira-san," he said and then continued, "I need some flowers and also, to drop off your daughter."

"Speaking of which, why is my daughter on your back? Well other than eloping I don't see any reason why," Mira continued.

"Don't worry about that, Mira-san. Nothing like that will ever happen between us. I'm pretty sure of that," Naruto replied coolly and both females had to stare at him with wide eyes at that statement.

Ino Yamanaka didn't say anything, but those words affected her. She wanted to ask why, as her fist almost prepared to hit him straight on the jaw.

"That's bizarre. Anyway, come in then," she beckoned as she opened the door and moved inside.

Naruto sighed and was going to walk forward, but Ino's voice stopped him.

"Naruto," she said with a bit of confusion in her voice. Said boy looked at her as she started again, "Do you have a problem with me?"

"No. Why would I?" Naruto asked, he was getting annoyed now. He had to go home, cook dinner and then read up on more fūinjutsu.

"Then why are you treating me like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like I'm not your friend?" she asked and Naruto chuckled.

However, she couldn't find anything funny in that action. He then looked her straight in the eye as her head leaned in more.

"Since when did you consider me a friend?" he asked and received no reply. He walked forward and stepped into the shop, closing the door with his foot.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

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 **Author's Notes II:** Okay done with the second chapter. First of all, Anko flashing Naruto was something I felt like she would've done to wrack his nerves. I'm not calling her a slut, hell no. She just likes to mess with people's minds and given who her tutor is, I wouldn't be surprised. Moving on, what you saw today with Naruto and Ino was just the beginning. No, I don't plan to make this an angst (IDK how to write angst) fic, but some elements will show up every now and then as I plan to make this story a bit different from all my other ones. There will be more Naruto and Ino interactions in the next chapter and from there on a tone will be set. No, Naruto is not an emo in this one. He's just a bit more expressive than his normal restrained self. Oops, there I was ranting again. Make sure to review this chapter and tell me what you thought of it. PS: Eid Mubarak to everyone who's reading this chapter :D


	3. Apologies and Resolutions

**Author's Notes I:** What? Don't look at me like that. I don't know what happened man. I just felt like writing the next chapter of this story to get off my high. It's just…I really want you guys to see where this story is going. I was originally supposed to publish this chapter in November, but temptation and newfound drive made me do this.

* * *

 **Yeah, no. I still don't own Naruto. Writing this doesn't help either.**

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 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

Uzumaki Naruto was a sociopath.

He was manipulative, he wore a mask of an idiot, and most of all she believed it all her heart. He had to be, there was no other explanation.

From day one at the Academy, he was loud, exuberant, goofy, and as cheerful as they came.

The Uzumaki Naruto she knew was never sarcastic, restrained, a bit chilly, or remotely mysterious.

Yet, now...these were the words that she used to describe the orange wearing dropout.

She wasn't even paying attention to the conversations that were exploding around her as she normally did, the young Yamanaka heiress' mind trying to dissect as what he was playing or rather…who Uzumaki Naruto really was.

The words he said, the last words he had said to her ever since they returned to her family's shop of exquisite botany, still echoed in her mind.

How he had let out a hollow chuckle that made her nervous, his deep gaze that transformed his normally joy-filled cerulean eyes into twin glaciers that brought a harsh winter, and finally the words themselves that much to her awe cut deep through her.

 _"Since when did you consider me a friend?"_

Each word was well placed, the question was perfect and Yamanaka Ino had no reply to offer what she could say to such a statement. Her mind had replayed that moment several times ever since he dropped her off at their shop 10 days ago. The fact that she was even thinking about him annoyed her to no end.

Why should she even think about him?

What made him special?

Nothing.

There was nothing interesting about him.

Then she mentally slapped her forehead as she remembered trying to follow him after he bought white lilies from her mother. Mira was more than happy to pick out the best flowers personally, and the sad, tiny smile flashing across his face made her become so heavily interested in him.

He had said that he was due to visit the cemetery; bless all those who rested there, and the fact that someone like Naruto who was never seen with anyone except Iruka made her mind race at speeds that shamed the Yondaime.

Whom was he going pay his respects to? It did not make sense.

Naturally, she made the best decision that would benefit her mind's urge: she coerced her mother into tailing the Uzumaki all the way to the cemetery. Of course, after Naruto left the shop – without saying goodbye to her! – she approached her mother regarding 'Operation Tail Uzumaki', Mira refused stating that whatever Naruto was going do was his private matter even though her mother was interested too.

Seeing that small spark of curiosity, she fanned into a flame when she volunteered to take the heavy duty for an entire _week_. Yamanaka Ino learned she was a good gambler that day, and her mother agreed but told her to keep everything 'hush-hush' as possible.

After the blond had gone a safe distance away, thanks to her mother's excellent sensory perception, they followed him all the way to cemetery. There in that moment as the pale moonlight shone, Uzumaki Naruto stood in front of one specific graveyard and laid down the small bouquet of flowers.

She remembered how he began to speak to the person beyond this world, quite animatedly as some of the old Uzumaki Naruto came out. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes and he had to dry them off frequently.

It was strange seeing him like that.

He looked sad.

Normal.

He looked so….vulnerable.

Ino may never admit it aloud, but the Uzumaki's confidence and steeled resolve was something she subconsciously admired to an extent. He seemed almost at times like a wall that could never be broken, the foundations of his will were rock solid and nothing could ever dent them. Yet, the slight dulling of his eyes – as her mother informed her with the help of her keen sight – seemed almost unreal.

After spending more than 40 minutes talking to the departed, he laid down the bouquet and took one lily from there to place it on the grave just beside the one he had placed it atop.

He then began to pray, after a few more minutes had passed he said his goodbyes and left. After the mother and daughter duo were sure he left, they went to find out exactly _who_ it was that was so precious to the loudmouth who made him look so vulnerable. The carving on the gravestone shocked the fellow females to a great degree, as they tried to rid their suspension of disbelief and her mother even went so far as to check if they were under the effects of a genjutsu.

They were not.

She read the name on the gravestone of the person on which the flowers rested, gently giving it an aroma as their fragrance richened the aura.

Uchiha Mikoto.

The wife of the former Clan Head, killed in the massacre of the Uchiha Clan. Her Sasuke-kun's mother, and apparently, someone who was very close to Uzumaki Naruto. It felt so unreal to her as she decided to make one conclusion after another, each successive reason making less sense than the previous hypothesis.

In fact, it was insane as she concluded; when she tried to pressure her mother to get some intel regarding this discovery Mira told her to drop the issue. Her mother stated that they had barged in on his personal life enough, and they should not continue this further.

That was the reason why she couldn't get her mind out of the whole damned affair!

When Ino was interested in something, she wanted to find anything and everything about it. Saying that she determined to find out about her 'targets' would be an understatement.

Take her Sasuke-kun for example; finding out information regarding her one true love was not easy.

The brooding, handsome teen rarely talked to people and would sometimes walk as an air of mystery, intrigue, overall coolness washed over him. That only added more points for the Last Uchiha in her books. Sometimes she and a few other girls would sneak up ever so carefully to see what he had for lunch.

Finding out that omusubi with okaka and tomatoes was not easy, one of the most laborious tasks she had ever undertaken and made bento for him.

Sure, he refused most of the times…okay every time, but like she stated before. She was determined and he was bound to accept it one day.

That said, finding out information about the blond was even more difficult. After somehow finding out where he lived, the most rundown area in the whole village, she did not go further. It was weird, smelly and frankly irked her.

Therefore, she tried to follow him, but the Uzumaki somehow always managed to give her the slip and somehow get away excessively fast for her liking. She was sure that he did not sense her, after all if he didn't have control to make a simple clone how could he mold chakra to sense people around him?

Then he would go to Ichiraku's to have his ramen, and she shuddered to follow him. Hell, she almost ran into Hinata once or twice as she kept her routine watch of stalking one Uzumaki Naruto.

Contrary to what the rumors said, Uzumaki Naruto did not have 73 bowls of ramen in one go. It seemed that the rumor was grossly over-hyped as she saw him finish around five bowls of varying flavors before he would get out and disappear….again.

"Hey Pig," a voice reached her ears as the platinum blonde's blue eyes gazed into sparkling emerald ones. Her 'rival's' pink hair – long and soft and luscious – acting like a beacon of something ridiculous she could say, but that honor belonged to her larger than the Hokage Rock forehead.

God, that forehead was wide and naturally, Ino could not let the insult right now stride.

"What, Forehead?" she asked as her eyes leveled a glare, something Haruno Sakura happily returned with her own poisonous stare. Then the pinkette crossed her arms as she spoke.

"You're being awfully quiet," she said as her eyes squinted, trying to find out what was inside her mind.

Yeah, as if that would work. She was a Yamanaka, mind games ran in her blood.

"So what if I am. Even talking to you takes away my stamina," she replied cheekily and watching those veins pop up, twitching violently as the pinkette gritted her teeth gave her mental comfort. She even threw a smirk to deflate her.

Mind Games 101.

"That's a lot of sass coming from you, pig," Sakura said as she then had a cheeky smile of her own.

Yamanaka Ino did not like that smile at all, and…why were there legions of fan girls staring at her and Sakura?

Well more like glaring, but amateur stares like that didn't affect her.

It was almost like as if-

"Sasuke-kun," the pinkette said as Ino looked to the left, far end and opposite end of the bench, that she sat on. Lo and behold, Uchiha Sasuke sat there as he gazed out of the window in a careless manner.

So hot.

"Hn."

The grunt came from his throats as so many other girls squeaked and cheered at the non-committal remark. Everything that the Uchiha did was so perfect in her eyes, Sakura's eyes, and the girls' eyes that it made them-

The frictional screeching of the door sliding open broke Ino from her thoughts as she along with her classmates graduated after years of hard work, well not much of a problem for her, who bore lectures that made even the dead beg for mercy finally saw their homeroom teacher come in.

Umino Iruka was an enthusiastic teacher, as Ino and so many others had come to learn. He was dedicated, hard-working, and a complete pain in their proverbial asses.

God, how she hated it when he began his long, laboring lectures.

She shuddered as she remembered his speech about how the Shodaime Hokage had 'used his great and mighty wood to plough deep, bury the seeds, and made it fertile'. The man was nice, but he was naïve and that speech along with how the Nidaime could 'would make his enemies wet', how the Sandaime would 'insert his long staff into their bodies' and last but not least how the Yondaime had 'flashed to 1000 Iwa shinobi'.

Hence, she bestowed the title of Innuendo Iruka upon him and forever he shall carry that torch of general idiocy with him, as she may or may not have mentioned about it to certain group that diffused the news to the rest of the class.

"Ah, I see all of you are here…," the scarred chunnin began. Now normally Yamanaka Ino would have tuned out at this point, however something about him seemed odd.

One, Iruka-sensei never wasted his time and the way his eyes were searching for something or someone did not make sense. Two, the man had bandaged around his chin, one of his arms were draped in gauze.

'Damn my intellectually, superior and keen mind,' Yamanaka Ino thought as she cursed herself for making large deals out of almost everything and she blamed it all on none other than Uzumaki Naruto.

This habit of her had decreased so she could deal on more important matters like how to impress Sasuke and outdo Sakura, but now thanks to one orange wearing, ramen-loving, sociopathic dropout of the Academy her instincts were –

The white, wooden door once more slid to the side as another person joined their fray. Upon this person's arrival, every pair of eyes widened to sizes that were normally impossible, this included her too.

There at the front of the class stood one blond haired, blue-eyed boy as he struggled to regain his breath.

His clothes were simple, yet worthy of more than a few glances from the more delicate members of the opposite sex. Ino herself was impressed at how the new blond cleaned up, positive points indeed.

The boy was wearing blue, full sleeved jacket that was open, a dark orange undershirt and black pants that came down to his shins, white tapes did their job as they covered the exposed skin as his feet had toeless sandals. His hitai-ate was wrapped around his neck, as his hair fluttered down to form a fringe of it hanging over his forehead and a slight 'Eep' noise made the Yamanaka look around to see the Hyuga heiress, blushing up a storm as she turned red beyond measure.

It was the same with the rest of the girls who had flushed expressions; Ino herself found the sight appealing. Some of them were even fixing their hair, in hopes to impress the new cute boy.

Such sluts.

Okay, maybe she was being harsh on them.

At least she didn't try to seek the attention of a boy simply because he looked cute. Yeah, take Sasuke-kun for example. Not only was he handsome for a young teen, but cool, skilled, mysterious and from one of the most powerful clans in Konoha and….

Wait.

The boy at the front had finally stopped panting and flashed Iruka a smile. His hand slowly got up, cutting through the air as he ruffled his own locks of golden hair while nervously laughing.

"Sorry for being late, sensei," the boy with the whisker marks on his cheeks said.

…Whiskers. Blond hair with occasional red streaks. Blue eyes.

…

"I had a rough day, dattebayo. After that I went to do a few things, got tired because of some training and slept in," he continued.

He had used a verbal tic known only to one other person and he had failed, but this couldn't possibly be-

"Naruto," Iruka said and Ino's mind scrambled, along with everyone else in the class. "You-"

"WHAT?!" a yell broke out and everyone's attention switched to the standing, surprised frame of Inuzuka Kiba who pointed at Naruto with an extended finger, his nail sharpened.

A wave of disbelief washed over them all, as Uzumaki Naruto sighed.

She could already tell that today was going to be a long day.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

Uzumaki Naruto was awesome.

Yes, he was.

He knew that, Jiji knew that, the Ichiraku's knew that, Iruka-sensei definitely knew that, and the Yondaime knew that before anyone else. The Yellow Flash had after all chosen him to be the warden of the Kyuubi, and only a person with the right amount of skills and power could do that.

His training and almost unreal improvement in month under the Snake Mistress only testified to that statement, as her comments of his spamming clone after clone to abuse the hell out of that jutsu only confirmed it. She even mentioned that the Nidaime Hokage must've been crying in the afterlife upon seeing his baby being slaughtered like that, well it sucked to be the white haired guy.

Regardless, Uzumaki Naruto was prepared to shake the world and let loose a storm of pure, unadulterated badassery that would make him a legend. He would go out in the battlefield, becoming a feared shinobi only rivaled by the previous Hokage. Hell they'd come back to the realm of the living just to proclaim him as the greatest of all time. Such would be the mark he would leave behind.

Yes, that is what he thought before going to sleep.

Now he was not the brightest mind, he knew that.

So, excitedly staying up to get even more training was probably not his best idea and one that made him sleep a bit too much. As per the expected result, he woke up to see that he was late, late enough that the team placements would be done without him arriving there in time.

What if Iruka-sensei made him do chores again?

Damn it he couldn't look that bad on the first day as a genin. What would Oba-chan say?

The thought of that woman who sorta acted like a mother figure when he was younger made him nerves calm. Ever since visiting her grave and pouring out his heart about how he would finally become a genin made him feel lighter. An invisible burden was lifted off his shoulders. His mind also cleared and he was able to work better after that. He had even laid flowers on her husband's grave, just one but he did do it dattebayo.

That guy was weird. He remembered her husband; in fact, he was sure that the man was the one who gave him the title of Prankster Crime Lord.

Regardless, going to the flower shop and paying his respects was a good decision.

The slight signs of self-loathing were clearing ever since he found out he was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.

It was amazing how a person who was no longer here in the world, continued to provide him emotional comfort like that. Bonds were truly something he cherished and the few people he had acquainted with him, yes even Anko-chan, were that precious to him.

He would sooner give up his own life than let anything happen to them. He had even said this out loud in front of her and oh boy…

Did he get smothered in her chest.

He complained even less now, mostly because he liked and she was starting to notice that he did not become a stuttering mess as he used to. So she started to drill him in other areas of his training along with other areas that described him…drilling into her. God, she was one hell of a woman who made his thinking power go out.

That said, the training session with her yesterday had drained him out already before he decided to be a smartass about it.

Uzumaki Naruto ran as if the hounds of hell were on his trail as he sped past the general populace, shrugging off their glares and the pointless whispers. Maybe he ought to stop and show them how a scroll could hold a kunai without actually becoming one.

Mah, he'd prove them all wrong one day. Thanks to the weight training, his speed had gone up without using his Jinton and by the Log; he was still wearing them casually. Whizzing past good ole Suzume-sensei who yelled at him for making her drop her paperwork, he laughed before stopping his pace. He nearly fell too. Still catching his breath slid the door open to see Iruka-sensei and by the looks of it…they were going to get another lecture.

Now, while Naruto looks up at the man like an unofficial older brother, he hated his speeches. They made noodles of ramen wither and drift away.

That and the stare he was giving him did not help.

Damn Iruka-sensei's judgmental eyes. Naturally, the chosen champion of the color orange gave his response to any situation in which he may or may not have unintentionally fucked up. Yeah, Anko was starting to become a real influence on him. Letting out a nervous chuckle as he scratched the back of his head, he began to give an explanation.

"Sorry for being late, sensei," Naruto began. A small part of him hoping that that scarred chunnin would muster a great and heartwarming amount of mercy in his heart, as he would let the future Hokage is on his way. Perhaps, he needed more incentive. "I had a rough day, dattebayo. After that I went to do a few things, got tired because of some training and slept in."

Boom.

Yeah, surely Iruka-sensei would accept this reasoning. It was true too; it wasn't like he was slacking off or something. Uzumaki Naruto never slacked off, he had so much energy that he could run for hours without tiring. How many other people from his generation could claim that? Very few, he mused or none at all.

However, it seemed that he wasn't off the hook as his teacher's eyebrow twitched.

That was not a good sign.

Then he saw him breathe in as his Adam's apple momentarily disappear into his throat, before coming back to its original place.

That was a bad sign.

"Naruto," Iruka spoke and Naruto's mind was already trying to think of what to say. He could not bear to go through a lecture right now, that too about his tardiness.

He was trying to avoid poisonous snakes trying to bite his ass, dattebayo.

"You,-" was all that his sensei got to say before another spoke up.

Loudly too.

"WHAT!" came the sudden yell as Naruto slowly turned around and noted the general suspension of disbelief so maliciously dancing in the room.

Everyone, every single person was outright staring at him.

The boys were surprised. Shino was looking straight at him, Kiba was pointing his finger at him with shock so heavily featured on his face, Choji had stopped eating a chip halfway through, and Shikamaru was looking at him…without trying to doze off.

For some reason the last one made his danger senses becoming aware. However, it wasn't just the lazy Nara's stare that made it so. Uchiha Sasuke aka Teme was looking at him with his onyx eyes and trying to figure him out.

Naruto had learned about the Uchiha's Kekkei Genkai and was wondering whether Sasuke had activated his. It was highly probable, and quite honestly would make sense. Teme knew how to fight; Naruto couldn't take that away from him.

Even now, Uchiha Sasuke was his rival and one of these days, he was going to take that stick out of his ass.

He owed it to Mikoto and he'd beat up Sasuke to the point of normalcy, then he would become friends with the Uchiha. Sasuke did seem like that sort of a person. Did this make Sasuke a masochi-

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE DOBE!"

 _'A shinobi must never show any weakness.'_

Naruto remembered the words that Anko quite literally hammered into him when she would emotionally exploit some of his weaknesses. She knew exactly what to say that would rile him up, it took him nearly thirteen days before he started to somewhat temper his mind. That was the only reason he didn't shout like he usually would have, part of him wanted to do it too.

However, the cooler, shinobi side in him made the blond raise his hand and point it towards his hitai-ate.

Naruto didn't put it on his forehead due to his rush and loosely tied it around his neck. As the metal gleamed in accordance with the dramatic effect, a sharp series of gasps were heard in perfect synchronization.

Well that was something you didn't see every day.

Shrugging it off, the Jinchuuriki looked around for an empty seat and found it at the back with Choji and Shikamaru.

That was good.

While he may not have any good friends at the Academy, the heirs of the Nara and Akimichi clans were the closest thing he had to friends…even though they only met at the Academy and a few off-meetings while passing by. They were cool, Shikamaru did not seem bothered by how he was practically isolated from other kids of his age and Choji was Choji. He was a swell person, if not a bit heavy.

Smiling like his usual self, he was going to walk away, but a sharp pain on the back of his head made him yelp in pain. He turned around to see Iruka's head bloat up like a monster, reminiscent of the ones that existed in his darkest nightmares, and started screaming at him as if he had stolen his ramen.

"NARUTO!" Iruka yelled, his vocal chords straining past their limits as the demonic howl echoed. A large wind expelled from his mouth sweeping across the entire room. Maybe his sensei used Fūton jutsu for this routinely display of righteous wrath. The scarred chunnin balled up his fist as the veins pumped furiously, "Why the heck were you late?"

"Like I said sensei," the boy began while lightly glaring at the instructor. "I trained too much and fell asleep, dattebayo. Is that too hard to believe?"

"Given your lack of effort, yes."

"Sensei, come on. I do give effort. Just not to anything boring."

"I see, so….DID YOU JUST CALL MY TEACHING BORING!"

"Ne, Iruka-sensei," Naruto began as he remembered the recent gossip that Anko apparently heard at the jounin lounge. He mentally crossed his fingers as he began to speak, "Suzume-sensei was looking for you. She said something about you, her and the re-enactment of Ich-"

The blond who was not allowed to finish as hand clamped over his mouth and with his cerulean eyes he saw the chunnin's face becoming red.

Huh. The rumors were true after all. Well, all he could say to Iruka was one thing.

Nice.

"That's enough, Naruto," Iruka began. Face still as red as a cherry, as he removed his hands and let the boy go. "Go and sit down. Don't be late from now on. You're a genin and you'll have to be punctual."

"Hai, sensei. Don't worry about that, dattebayo," Naruto said and was walking forward, but the voice of one Inuzuka Kiba stopped him.

"Dobe," the feral boy began as Akamaru rested atop his head. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"Uh, genin," Naruto said as he pointed to his neck again. "I just pointed it out a few seconds ago."

"You failed the exam. Then what are you-"

"Hey! Look a cat!" Naruto said pointing at the window and saw how the Inuzuka heir jumped off his bench. Kiba flew to the window with Akamaru loudly barking; well it was somewhat cute since the little pup was adorable. However, Naruto grinned as he saw the feral boy was still searching for said, non-existing cat.

Oh, how life was good for him at the moment.

Still walking up, the blond stopped upon seeing a person. Her platinum blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail like usual; her hair was long too – something he liked. However, he did not stand to notice how her skin was unblemished or her cute, little nose perfectly complimented her heart-shaped face.

He stood here for a different reason as her turquoise eyes looked at his own shade of cerulean.

"We need to talk," he said and for a moment, he saw nervousness flash in her eyes. That passed a few moments later as she nodded her head and mildly huffed, crossing her arms and looking away.

This was the Yamanaka Ino he knew.

He also noted how the pinkette's emerald eyes were looking at him, and his heart almost screamed at him to look at her. To talk to her, to yell 'Sakura-chan' and get hit by her. However, his mind rationalized and told him to walk away. He did not have to talk to Haruno Sakura right now, he'd talk to her later if needs arose. The words she said regarding his abilities as a shinobi were still on his mind and it would take some time before he forgot them.

Beginning his stride again, he noticed something strange.

The girls, nearly all the ones in the class, were looking away from him once he gazed at them. They had pink blushes on their cheeks, some played with their hair and a few even smiled at him. Naruto had to shake his head at the last part.

Was he stuck in a dream world where everything was going right?

A piece of chalk came flying in from behind and hit him on the head dispelling that thought. Before Iruka could, use his patented monstrous head jutsu, Naruto scuttered over to the bench sitting beside human incarnates of sloth and glutton.

He wasn't a bad guy, so he decided to greet the two like he normally did to everyone else. Well, everyone that talked to him.

"Yo, Shika, Choji," Naruto said with his usual bright smile and saw the boy with the gravity defying ponytail speak up first.

"Troublesome Blond Orange," the pineapple headed boy spoke, drawling out the last part followed by a yawn. "How are you?"

The next question caught him off guard.

Shikamaru said it as if he almost knew that Naruto had-

"Yeah," Choji added his two cents while putting five chips in his mouth.

Wow, he sure was eager when it came to food. Other than that, Naruto didn't know what to say to them. He had been so overzealous with training, physical improvement, and fūinjutsu that he had forgotten to ask Jiji or anybody else who knew of his current situation on what to say.

 _'A shinobi must see the hidden meanings under the hidden meanings.'_

Yeah, sure. Like saying that he housed an immortal asshole of a titanic fox inside him, was one of the last living descendants of a clan that was related to the Senju's, had a Kekkei Genkai aaand had royally kicked the asses of two chunnin made very good sense. He could use help right now.

"Now," Iruka's voice cut through the air as he spoke, diverting all the attention towards himself. "As I was saying before Naruto decided to make his fashionably late entrance. As you all know, an evaluation had taken place recently. You'll see that a lot of students who had passed the test are not here. The reason for that is - they were not fit for being active genin. While they did pass the aptitude exam and had the basic Academy Three down, their other skills were substandard. Hokage-sama himself has overseen this process. Naruto is here because he retook the test, as he had been given the wrong paper when he gave his exams, of the old curriculum no less."

Silence screamed in the room as nearly every darted towards him, except Sasuke.

That was no surprise there, except now as Broody McBroodster turned around, and gave him a glance.

A glint of a challenge shone in the Uchiha's eyes and Naruto noticed it.

Was Sasuke glad he was here?

Once more shaking his head at the disbelief of what may have just happened; his view on everything was slowly changing. Maybe the world would finally accept orange as the greatest color.

Maybe.

"Now then," Iruka spoke as a smile stretched across his face. His eyes filled with warmth, chest heaving up with pride and a sigh left his lips.

'Oh no,' Naruto thought with horror as realized that Iruka was going to give a lecture.

A slight snoring sound beside him made the Jinchuuriki realize that the Nara heir was already asleep and Choji was still munching on those chips. Oh wait, this was a different bag of chips.

In his opinion, the Akimichi must have been loaded considering how Choji ate. The entire clan were supposedly filled with 'fat-asses that made the earth shake' as Anko had put it.

"You're all shinobi now. Genin is the first step to…." Iruka's mouth kept launching out words but they were registering as nothing more than gibberish in Naruto's ears. A foreign language entirely and it was hypnotizing him.

It made him feel drowsy, the orange loving teen blamed that on the lack of sleep he already had and slowly his eyes were shutting.

Everything was becoming blurry.

Shoulders were slackening and his head slowly came down to rest on the wooden desk. The Akimichi's rhythmic chomping of the deep fried food served as a well received lullaby as he tried to pay attention to what Iruka was saying.

He had to pay attention now; after all, he was a shinobi.

A future Hokage and a yawn escaped from his mouth as he told himself he would listen to what Iruka had to say.

He absolutely failed.

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

He smiled as his head rubbed his cheek into the smooth, polished surface of wood.

Yes, life was good for him and everything was perfect…except it wasn't.

He began to hear some noises, noises of girly voices as they came in like broken signals on a radio. His head could not understand what the words meant as his eyes were still closed and darkness was all he could see. Now if only someone decided to stop poking him. He was enjoying his five-minute nap.

Naruto felt the jab…again.

Clearly, someone was trying to make sure that a certain genin didn't receive his well-earned break.

Yawning once more, the blond haired teen slowly got up. His neck lightly croaked as small cracking noises thundered from his head.

This was going to bother him wasn't it?

Finally opening his cerulean eyes, he scanned to see the classroom in its usual hustle and bustle as he received a few stares from the girls, followed by some blushes.

Boy, it was weird. He yawned once more and put of his arms behind his head, stretching out his body as it fitted to his shirt, which he did not realize. Hearing some gasps, squeals, one 'eep', and whole lot of 'Oh~' being let out he stopped his action, while remaining in that pose.

Confusion seeded inside his mind as his eyes blinked to see most of the females of his class suddenly gush out and look away from him.

'What the fuck?' he thought as he tried to ignore the situation. It wasn't easy and top of that, he didn't like it. Maybe he could- aaand there was the poke again on his left arm. Tilting his head to the left like certain puppies do, he saw Yamanaka Ino standing there.

At first she seemed angry and annoyed (like usual), but then for a moment her cheeks became pink?

Huh?

Followed immediately by her shaking her head and then crossing her arms.

That must have been her thing like how he often put his hand on the back of his head. To each their own.

"You said you wanted to talk," Ino said as she finally looked at him again. If the blonde had to be honest, she was very, very interested in what the suddenly transformed dropout-turned-graduate of their class said.

His situation alone demanded her attention and by the Log, she would delve in deep to find out the mystery that shrouded Uzumaki Naruto.

Unknown to her, the orange loving teen got up slowly as he looked at the front of the class to see that Iruka-sensei wasn't around anymore. Wait if he wasn't there…then that meant-

"You're on Team Seven," Ino said suddenly as if the girl had been reading his mind. Anko did say that Yamanaka's were interrogators and could read minds, but they needed physical contact.

He was sure that Ino didn't read his mind when she poked him…did she?

Wow, he was paranoid nowadays.

"Oh, right," Naruto said trying to shrug off the thought that Ino had possibly invaded his mind. In all honesty wasn't afraid of his secrets as much as he was afraid for the girl. He hoped she never goes into his mind; the Fox might tear her apart for shits and giggles.

"Who are my teammates?" he quickly added noting that Ino might catch on to him for his late replies. He was hyperactive after all, something he was sure he couldn't get rid of too soon. Maybe when he was older and had a ridiculously short, haircut.

Oh yeah that would be the day, and then some frizzy looking kid with a weird Mohawk and tribal markings would kill him. Sure, as if someone like that could ever touch his swift ass.

At this question, the girl almost seemed annoyed and hopeless too.

For Ino, it was a travesty as she figured the teen she woke up from his slumber had been sound asleep when Iruka announced it. Though it does explain why he didn't shout out when the team placements were announced. With a sad sigh parting from her lips, a wrenching pain in her heart, and a small bit of regret threatening to make her almost break down in depression, she told him. She told him of the fate she had been denied, and the one he had been granted.

"You're with Sasuke-kun and Forehead," she said as she thought about the tragedy.

Now Sakura, Forehead would get a chance to bond with Sasuke-kun. There was no doubt in the young mind walker's mind that the pinkette would do everything to make sure that the Uchiha fell in love with her and run a smear campaign against the Yamanaka heiress.

Life was so unfair.

A scoff of annoyance broke her out of her thoughts as she saw the blond teen groan a bit. He then proceeded to bring his hand against his forehead, and almost looked like someone had stabbed him with something rusty in his butt.

Then she realized it, he was probably pissed for being on the same team as Sasuke. That means that he would hold the team back and hinder her love's progress.

It was a tragedy indeed.

"This is so fucked up," Naruto said and the blonde beside him looked up at him for his use of crass words.

Well it was no surprised that they were surprised, he rarely did curse. However, this situation called for it. Not only was he on a team with Sakura, with whom he was sure that he would snap at if she said something out of turn, but as if Jiji was playing a joke with him placed him on the same team as Sasuke.

Sasuke, the guy who received a C in positivity and D in cooperation, was his teammate. Granted that Anko had told him that the Academy skills and history meant shit in real life and the battlefield, but he had seen how Sasuke was with group works. It always ended with him taking charge and finishing the whole thing by himself.

Sure, the Teme got the job done, in excellent fashion too but the way he would wrest control was something he found distasteful.

Naruto for all the bad grades he received, always did have a good positive effect on whoever his teammates would be and would work with them to get an okay grade.

Not to mention Sakura was there who would no doubt end up supporting Sasuke and double guessing everything he had to say. Rules of nature, everyone in the class knew that. Had it been a month ago, then Naruto would have been jumping jacks and vomiting rainbows out of his mouth because he ended up on the same team as the pinkette.

He sighed and tried to calm himself down.

No use in getting angry about it anymore, he'd just have to grin it and bear it.

Besides this must have been a challenge and he would overcome it.

"Ahem," a cough came from the blonde Yamanaka as she tapped her foot on the ground, dangerously. She did so to create a dangerous aura around her. Her mother had this pat down.

Unfortunately, Naruto had been suffering at the hands of one sexy and incredible Mitarashi Anko for a month. This was kiddy stuff to him, but he'd oblige for now. He looked at her and began to speak. He needed to talk to her about their last meeting.

"Right, the talk," Naruto began and would've continued, but the damn door opened and his attention diverted to the man and woman who entered.

The man wore the same clothes as almost every jounin in Konoha, a small modification being there was a sash around the bottom of his vest with the kanji for 'Fire'. Well that was new. That aside, the man was tall, well built and smiling lightly. His skin had an olive tan to it, along with brown eyes, short spiky, black hair slicked back and a beard.

First impression, awesome.

The woman however, now, was a different case. Her skin was unblemished, fair and looked soft – don't ask questions, he could just tell. She had a slender build, a face that made him feel like he was more of a child than a growing, young man. Red full lips and purple eye shadow that made her look exotic, and untamed black hair came down all the way to her back. Her attire was also very…unique. Red mesh she wore an armored blouse with only the right sleeve visible.

Overall, this is very broad material, which resembled bandages had a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns as he had seen. Her hands and upper thighs are also wrapped in bandages and she wore the Konoha forehead protector and regular shinobi sandals. However, that was not her most striking feature. That glory belonged to her eyes. Crimson eyes, just like the Kyuubi's only much more kinder in contrast. She gave off a nice vibe too.

First impression, awesome…and beautiful.

"Team Eight," she spoke and many boys stared at said team jealously. Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuga Hinata got up, the last of the trio getting up more slowly. Her eyes scanned the three before she gave off a small, warm smile. "I'm Yuhi Kurenai, your jounin instructor. Come to Training Ground 28 within thirty minutes."

Her words finished, she proceeded to walk out of the room. However, her eyes fell on a certain blond haired boy who happened to be looking at his desk before meeting her eyes.

She had heard about him becoming a genin in the most unorthodox method and his supposed improvement that a certain friend of hers could not keep her mouth shut up about, she was interested. When she saw the boy and some of his resemblances to the Yondaime, she was a bit shocked.

As she left the room, almost every eye of the males sans Sasuke turned towards Naruto.

"What?" Naruto asked, a bit annoyed with all the stares today. What the fuck was up with today?

"Don't think just cause you look cooler, you're better Naruto," came the shout from Kiba as he looked at the blond with a feral smirk. Akamaru barked in agreement with his comrade.

Ah, Kiba. His partner in crime when it came to not paying attention to Academy lessons. Yet another person he didn't really consider a friend, a vigorous classmate sure. But friend? No. Well, not yet anyway.

"Kiba-san," Shino spoke, almost quietly even though the whole room heard them. "You shouldn't be so loud."

"Aw, Shino," the Inuzuka heir grumbled until the timid female Hyuga finally spoke up.

"A-Ano, Kiba-san, he's right," the short lavender haired girl spoke. Seeing the boy deflate at her words along with Shino pushing his shades back to his eyes and nodding solemnly, she turned to leave until Hinata's eyes fell on Naruto again.

Words could not begin to describe how elated she felt when the teen had appeared again. Honestly speaking she was sad that he didn't get to pass. The teen who inspired her so much to go forward was finally back and she couldn't hold back the smile that broke out on her face.

She also liked how he was…smiling at her?

Oh God, he was looking at her. N-N-Naruto was looking at her with a smile on his lips. Granted she thought he was cute before as her crush on him increased, but now…now he looked so..

"Yo, Hinata," Naruto waved at the girl who was never rude to him.

Hinata was definitely okay in his books. Yet, he didn't consider her a friend for one reason and one reason only. Each time he was three meters near her, she would become red and faint.

Did he scare her?

Did she know of the Kyuubi?

That was what he kept asking himself and when he told Anko she laughed her ass off, while not giving him a clear answer and calling him 'a deluded, thickheaded idiot'.

Regardless, Naruto wasn't going to be an asshole to her.

"How are you?" he said out loud and saw the girl turning red again.

Oh boy.

Hearing the eep once more he saw how she lost consciousness as Kiba comically caught her and was frantically trying to wake her up.

"Oh, come on," Kiba said before carrying the girl on her back.

He then looked at Naruto and mentally cursed him. Hinata, an okay cute girl akin to a little sister, had a crush on him from day one.

Why, he didn't know. It was painfully obvious to everyone except Naruto himself. God, he was an idiot. Then after his apparent wardrobe change, more girls looked at him as if he was some piece of meat. On top of that, Yamanaka Ino – a girl he once had a crush on – was on speaking terms with him.

'When did that happen?' was the question Kiba asked.

"Do you need help? It is my fault," Naruto said from the back of the room as he strode forward.

Kiba knew that Hinata would have a heart attack if he came over, and right now, he didn't feel like running to the hospital with her.

"Nah, I can take her there. You stay away, or you'll make her faint…again," Kiba added in the last parts and walked with Shino, as Naruto stood confused.

Naruto would have pondered on it further if the bearded man didn't start laughing all of a sudden. He looked at Naruto in mirth and spoke.

"Kon, was right. You're a special one," the jounin said as he brought out a cigarette and put it on his mouth. He didn't light it though, someone would complain about his indecency and lack of manners. Hmph, he killed people for a living and they complained about him smoking. The irony was never lost on him.

"Kon?" Naruto asked, confused at the name. Who the heck was Kon? He didn't know any Kon.

"Yeah, you must know him by his full name. He's my nephew Konohamaru," the man said and Naruto's eyes widened. Yeah, that was a normal reaction considering who he was.

"Wait so you're his Cancer Stick Uncle?" Naruto asked as he pointed his finger at the bearded man who nearly faltered at the remark. Many people looked at the jounin with skeptical and judgmental eyes.

Naruto looked at the man carefully and indeed could see some resemblances to his Jiji. So this Asuma guy was his son, and Konohamaru's uncle. Yeah, that midget still tried to follow him every now and then ever since they met at the Hokage's office.

Apparently, he made quite the impression on the youngster and left him with the belief that there was no shortcut to becoming Hokage. Naruto's blue eyes then caught sight of the twin blade holsters on the side of his legs, before coming back up.

The man's eyebrow was twitching at the remarks along with the stares, and Naruto then heard Ino giggle at his words.

He turned to see her and…uh. Wow, he didn't know she looked so cute like that.

Yup, Anko was really affecting him.

"Anyways," the man said with borderline annoyance in his tone. "Team Ten, I'm Asuma. Your jounin sensei and meet me at Training Ground Twenty within twenty minutes, if you're late I'm sending you back to the Academy." The man then walked out of the room as he saw Ino put a hand under her chin.

"Troublesome," came the lazy remark from Nara Shikamaru as he got up from his desk. His head already missed the wooden pillow. He saw that Choji had gotten up and was walking towards the door, which only left one team member.

Turning around the boy with the pineapple ponytail spoke, "Ino, you coming?"

"Yeah," Ino spoke, as she had to go now. Moreover, she didn't get to talk with Naruto about…well whatever it was he wanted to discuss. "Look Naruto, I have to go now."

"Sure. But what about-"

"First team meetings aren't generally that long. If you're still around here, then we'll have a talk," she said and seeing the teen nod, Ino began to walk forward. Her turquoise eyes seeing the smirk Forehead was giving her annoyed her to no ends and the fact that Sasuke-kun was looking out the window only served as a swansong.

Instead of Sasuke or another adequately okay teammate, she got the laziest and hungriest people in the world. Her fate was tragic indeed.

"Good luck, I guess," the words reached her ears and saw that it was none other than Naruto who said it. That was surprising. Maybe he was being nice in general, like he usually was. Then as her look of confusion remained on her face, she noted something.

Naruto looked familiar, like she had seen him before outside of the Academy. The absence of the goggles made him look different by quite a scale.

After Naruto saw Ino leave, he began to walk forward and saw the spot beside Sakura empty. Well, they were a team and he had to cooperate. Sitting down he heard a grunt leave the Uchiha and didn't respond like he usually did. Two could play it at that game.

"Hello to you too, Teme," Naruto said. He waited for the barrage of curses and insults being thrown his way by his horde of rabid, fan girls. Instead, there was no noise and he, in sheer disbelief, turned around to see the looks of conflict on their faces.

'Seriously, what the fuck is up with today?' he thought with a deep conscience. It was like as if the sun didn't rise from the East today. 'I mean, even Sakura-ch….Sakura isn't-'

"Baka!" Haruno Sakura yelled as she rolled up the right sleeve of her red top, and cocked back her fist.

How dare that idiot respond to Sasuke-kun like that? She was going to teach him a lesson for that, like she did every other day. She was just a small distance away from her fist smashing against his head; Sasuke-kun was bound to notice how she took revenge on his behalf for the verbal slight.

Naruto turned around and saw the punch coming. Honestly, he could have done so many things. He could've blocked it, dodged it or even caught it. Naruto could do that. However, a part of him didn't let him. Years of instinct rooted him there as the punch came and ricocheted against his head.

God, Sakura-ch...Sakura could punch hard. The force of the punch made him shift away from the bench as his right side collided against a desk. Groaning a bit, he caressed his sides and sat down on the apparent bench. He could've asked Sakura why she punched him like that, but some things were better left unsaid.

She would probably take Sasuke's side, no matter what happened. A small voice in his head told him that if Sasuke were to murder him and get imprisoned, then Sakura would probably help him escape.

He cared about Sasuke, about as well as he cared for his other classmates and there was the fact he was Mikoto's son. But if Sasuke ever tried to do that, he wouldn't walk away in one piece. Naruto would make sure of that.

Sakura herself was surprised at how the whole thing went down. Normally, Naruto would be pestering her right about now. Instead, he didn't and she was glad. Maybe he was starting to slowly give up on her, when he talked to Ino…it felt weird but she was glad again. If it meant for both Ino to be annoyed by Naruto and her number one fan boy to chase after her rival in love, then it was a win-win for her.

Then she ended up on the same team as Sasuke-kun.

Sakura couldn't begin to describe how happy she felt at being on the same team as him, sure Naruto was in it too but he was fodder at this point. Then when she finally punched him, she expected him to see panicked and worried he upset her. Instead, all she got was a blank gaze before he was sent to the other bench. The blond haired boy got up and simply sat on the bench.

No doubt making up ways to ask her out on a date.

She was sure of it.

The hands of time kept turning, as more jounin began to come in and pick up their respective genin. They had no doubts that a lot of them would be going home tomorrow morning. Naruto himself was not concerned with such thoughts and instead focused with his eyes closed.

Something eerily strange happened a few days ago. It was indescribable; it was as if he could feel everything and everyone around him when he was lying in the Forest of Death when he closed his eyes. It happened for a small moment, but he was sure that he could do it again. Cutting his mind off from everything else, he focused with all his heart.

He was calm, he was patient and he was NON OF THOSE THINGS!

Naruto proceeded to slam his forehead against the desk, weakling muttering out an 'Ouch', then sat upright to soothe his bruised area as he soothed the area with his fingers. Why was life so hard?

A deep chuckle reached his ears; Naruto realized that the Fox had was going to speak to him. Well he couldn't afford to go back into his 'Mindscape', as the Kyuubi called it, since his jounin sensei could show up at anytime so he had to talk like this without showing too many physical reactions.

" **I see you've failed again,** " Kyuubi said as Naruto's eyebrow twitched.

So much for not showing a reaction.

'Shut up, Fox,' Naruto thought as he tried to think about his awareness ability.

 **"You're a sensor,** " the Fox said all of a sudden and Naruto's eyes widened a bit as he thought about what his tenant just said.

'Sensor?' Naruto asked the Fox. 'What's that?'

" **Seriously? You don't know what a sensor is?** "

'…..'

" **I forgot you stupid were for a moment.** "

'HEY!'

" **Sensory technique is when shinobi use their chakra to locate, analyze and perceive the nature of other chakra signatures around them**."

'…Right.'

" **Look,** " the Kyuubi growled out in frustration. " **In short, say you're standing on that dirty Hokage Rock,-"**

'Stop insulting my home, damn it!'

"- **and** **you start using your chakra to _locate_ other people around you. That way you can feel where they are and the buildup of chakra, as in when they'll attack using chakra**."

'Woah. That's so cool. To think someone like me is a rare senso-'

 **"Shinobi with sensory perception have been around for centuries**." Kyuubi quickly added as it felt the boy's happiness turning into dark, gloomy cloud of crippling depression.

'Why do you always steal my thunder?'

 **"Because you're annoying. That said,** " Kyuubi paused for a moment. " **What you did yesterday was bizarre, even by normal standards.** "

'What do you mean?' Naruto asked, interested in hearing what the Kyuubi was referring to.

" **Do you remember seeing something?** " the Kyuubi no Kitsune asked and the boy 'hmmed' in response.

Now that Naruto thought about it, he did see something strange when he used his sensing technique. It was like a clear, black and white picture. A map, if you will, of nearly the entire Forest of Death. He had been lying on the ground when it had happened and for a moment, he saw everything around him.

'Yeah. I saw the Forest of Death. In black and white.'

" **So that happened because of your technique,"** Kyuubi said in thought. " **That's interesting. To be able to see with your eyes closed and sensing the techniques of your enemies. Looks like you're not completely useless.** "

'I'm not completely useless you damned, dirty fox!'

 **"You are. Do you know there are eight more like me?** " Kyuubi asked with mirth.

'…What?' Naruto asked. He was caught off guard with such a statement like that. 'What do you mean eight more like you?'

" **There are nine Bijuu in total. I am the strongest with Nine Tails, and then you have the ones weaker than me from eight to one,"** the Kyuubi said with a vicious smile. " **Even though I can't sense them with my own technique mainly because most of them are sealed up right now or not fighting with their Jinchuuriki, I can tell. You, Uzumaki Naruto are weaker than their Jinchuuriki."**

'Shut up,' Naruto thought with some venom in his mind. 'I've been working my ass off for a month. Don't you dare call me weak. I've improved-'

 **"Yeah, you improved alright. I am not denying that, ningen. However,"** Kyuubi said as his voice continued to grow louder. " **You fucked yourself up. You have the potential; you could have grown stronger years ago if you had started training seriously. Instead, now I am nothing but a mockery as my Jinchuuriki is the weakest, despite my unrivaled strength. Get your shit in line, boy and grow stronger. Because if you don't, one of these days I'm going to come and tear that lovely little piece of paper apart. Then, well…let's just say that Konoha is a lovely place mark my return."**

The words made a chill run down Naruto's spine. His prisoner didn't yell any of those words, the Kyuubi casually told him he'd destroy the Hidden Leaf and the blond didn't find any semblance of a lie in that statement. Still…

'Oh yeah?' Naruto thought as he pushed his fear back. He pictured the fox behind the cage, devilishly smirking at him with teeth that could snap steel beams like twigs. The Jinchuuriki began to speak as his own ego took control, 'Well, looks like I'll just have to get in that cage one of these days and make you eat your words, fuzzball.'

" **Easier said than done!"** the Kyuubi suddenly yelled as Naruto felt the killing intent spike up inside him.

Fear took hold of him as his body began to shake. An invisible pressure originated from inside him as he felt the gravity of the world pushing down on him. He could feel his bones threatening to be crushed, blood flowed so fast that his heart threatened to burst out of his chest and a voice kept telling him to run.

To flee from whatever horror that laid in store for him behind that accursed cage.

And like a passing storm, the feelings drifted away as Naruto found himself in the classroom as his eyes snapped open and started gasping. A sheen of cold sweat covered his face, his shaky hands slowly came up to remove it and became drenched.

He saw the classroom was mostly empty, only Sakura and Sasuke were there with him as they were still sitting at their desk.

Naruto felt the stares of his teammates and no doubt, they would ask him questions.

"Hey. What happened?"

Much to his surprise it was Sakura who asked the question. He looked at her for a moment before using his sleeves to dry off the perspiration from his head. The killing intent felt so unreal to him. Naruto couldn't help but feel the dread of how much the Kyuubi terrified him at that moment.

To him it felt like a few moments of sheer horror, but more time had passed in the real world.

"Nothing," Naruto replied as he got up. Seeing that they would be more inquisitive about his sudden behavior, he added further, "Just a bad dream about…udon."

Mentally he slapped himself as the Kyuubi's laughter could be heard. Naruto focused in his mind and slowly felt the connection die out. It was just own voice he could hear now.

"Udon?" Sakura asked and Naruto nodded his head. Then she saw a scowl taking its place on Sakura's face as she began to speak, "Of course you did. Only a baka like you would have a nightmare regarding food."

Well, he really couldn't be angry at the statement. However, he did feel some form of amusement from this. Sakura actually believed it. Of course. Sasuke was still staring at him, before he 'Hn'-ed and turned away. To Naruto that felt like Sasuke was calling him a loser, which he was 95% sure of.

"Well, I'm going to be back in a while guys. Need some ramen for this," Naruto said as he patted his stomach with fake grin that spread from ear to ear. He really was a good actor, maybe he'd become one if life as a shinobi didn't work out just in case.

"What?" Sakura accursedly shrieked and furiously glared at him. "What if our sensei comes in when you're gone?"

"Don't worry, Sakura-ch..." Naruto stopped himself and saw the emerald eyes he once praised widen a bit in surprise. Shrugging, he began again, "I won't take too long."

"Then get moving, loser," Sasuke spoke for the first time as his onyx eyes looked at the blond, who was annoyed at the remark.

"Teme," Naruto almost growled out. He really didn't like Sasuke, like really didn't.

"Don't call Sasuke-kun that, Naruto-baka!" Sakura yelled and saw Naruto gritting his teeth in annoyance at the Uchiha. Then he started walking away.

Naruto slowly reached for the door and went away.

This left Haruno Sakura to ponder how he didn't pester her today. He usually did and the fact that he didn't call her 'Sakura-chan' felt weird. It was something she was used to. Moving her thoughts away from that she looked at the Uchiha who was still looking out the window; his handsome features glistened as the warm sunlight fell on his face.

So hot.

She felt her cheeks heat up as she began to speak. Standing near the bench, she put her arms behind her back as her left arm grabbed her other wrist. Putting on a dazzling smile, she started to speak to the boy who held her heart.

"Sasuke-kun," she said softly, gently.

He gave no response. Being hopeful that he might say 'Yes' as they were on the same team, Sakura ventured forth.

"Do you want to get lunch?"

"No."

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

'This is so frustrating,' Ino thought as she finally made it back to the Academy.

Her jounin sensei was an ass. Well that was her first impression, and then he was promoted to jerk. Apparently, Sarutobi Asuma – as he told his name – did not look forward to taking a team. The reason he took one on was because the Hokage forced him to.

Ino had called bullshit on that in her mind.

He then gave them a small test. Nothing that hard apparently, as he said, only that he would take a team but only with two members. In short, one of them was going to be booted. Oh, how she flared her temper and verbally let loose the dogs of war at him, however the jounin was not fazed and gave them three hours. Three hours to decide who would go back, then he would return to hear their decision and move on.

Well, two and a half now as she scurried over back here at the Academy. Shikamaru apparently didn't seem fazed at all and told Choji to do the same. One of them was visually raping clouds with his almost closed eyes and the other was viciously devouring food like a monster.

Why did she get such useless teammates again? She should have been put on Team Seven, she could bear Sakura if Sasuke-kun was there. After all, he would save her and though it irked her to say it, the Uchiha would probably save Sakura too. Naruto could join her team, hell he'd be perfect.

Sloth, gluttony, and envy in one team.

She labeled Naruto with envy because it was clear as day that he was jealous of Sasuke-kun. Each time he would declare that he'd make the Uchiha eat dust and do the exact opposite.

On top of that, she was going to talk to him now. She was going to talk to Uzumaki Naruto alone; if somebody got rumors of this…her chances of getting together with Sasuke would practically vanish. After all, everybody knew that Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto hated each other.

The fact that Naruto knew Sasuke's mother well enough to lay flowers on her grave ate away at her to no end.

Stupid Naruto taking away her time.

Ino finally reached the door of Room 301 and saw through the glass in the door that Sakura was alone….with Sasuke-kun. Talking cheerfully, blushing and Sasuke looked at her all of a sudden.

'That slut!' Ino thought, poison gathering in her mind as he opened the door suddenly grabbing their attention. Both of them looked at her, Sasuke-kun looked at her and…where was Naruto?

"Huh?" she had to say in confusion. The blond said he'd be here.

Was he doing this to piss her off?

"What are you here for, Pig?" Sakura asked, as she smirked no less.

"Not here to talk to you, Forehead. Was she bothering you too much, Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked as she put on a cute pose, Sakura growled and Sasuke…didn't react. In fact, he was giving them an impassive sexy stare that was always on his face.

"Both of you are bothering me," he replied as said girls flinched from the tone he used. However, he wasn't done, "Annoying fan girls."

Sasuke rarely spoke to them, he would keep his words short, but this actually got to them. The fact that he said it with such disdain made a pang in their hearts. However, Ino felt more than that. She felt sad and almost annoyed. Maybe it was because she had to go back and say whom she wanted to kick out of the team.

Before she could speak, a voice behind her made itself known.

"Our sensei still isn't here?"

Ino turned around to see Naruto in different clothes, the same attire he wore when he had saved her. When he had held her like a new bride and HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!

No, she was just a teen girl who may or may not have had thought cross her mind. Mira certainly didn't help when Ino told her mother about how Naruto had saved her from the fall. These were just her mother's words playing a trick on her as she regained her thoughts.

Naruto, oblivious to it all, saw the Yamanaka first turn a bit pink, then shook her head before putting her arms on the side of her hips as she looked at him. She seemed angry, he was sure he didn't do anything incite such fury except maybe his asshole-ish behavior from the other day.

"So, do you want to talk now?" Naruto asked all of a sudden and whatever Ino was going to say stopped right there.

"What are you guys going to talk about anyway?" Sakura chirped in as she saw her rival, a person she is still slightly jealous of due to her looks and popularity talking to Naruto. Not that she was interested or anything, but this was bizarre.

"Nothing that concerns you Forehead," Ino said.

"He's on my team. If you two idiots take too long, then our jounin sensei will think he's left."

"Actually," Naruto spoke in between them both as he earned their glares. Wow, it was still weird being on the end of that look. "Our talk won't take up too much time. If our sensei shows up, we'll be on the roof."

Naruto finished and was walking out of the room, however Ino did not move.

What was Uzumaki Naruto playing?

Her mind tried to put the pieces together.

One, he dressed well. Two, he looked good. Three, he said they weren't friends. Four, he didn't call Forehead by her affectionate nickname of 'Sakura-chan' anymore. Five, they would talk on the roof…alone. Where no one could see them, while Ino was glad no one would see it or spread rumors about it but there were a few problems.

Sasuke-kun had already seen her talking with him, more than once no less and here she was going to the roof with him. Finally, if Ino didn't know any better she'd say that Naruto liked her and was doing all this to confess to her.

Oddly enough, she did not feel bad about the last part. Mainly because one he looked decent and no boy ever had the guts to ask her out. She would always smile, put a strand of her hair behind her ear and they would run away in embarrassment.

"Oi, Ino!" Naruto said as his head could be seen tilting outside the room. "Are you coming or what?"

"Y-Yeah," Ino replied, stuttering a bit at being caught off guard like that. She was about to leave before Sakura stopped her.

"Since when did you start talking to Naruto?" the pinkette asked, not sure why Naruto was bothering to talk to Ino of all people.

"Like I said before, it's none of your business. Bye, Sasuke-kun," she said to the boy, cheerily waving at him. The boy simply turned his head, finding the scenery more interesting.

Again, she felt that pang in her chest. She then walked out as Sasuke continued to look out the window and Sakura had a thoughtful look on her face.

'Since when were Naruto and Ino friends?'

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

A small breeze was dancing on the roof. Gently it traced its relaxing fingers across everything it met and to any person this was perfect considering the slightly warm weather today. Ino herself appreciated it as she stood taking in the relish of the relief.

She saw the Uzumaki stretching out a bit, as a small bag (box?) wrapped in cloth on the ground beside him. He then stopped and looked at her with a bored look.

"You're finally here. I thought it was going to take longer."

Naruto was never one for subtlety and was about as blunt as they came.

"What do you want, Naruto? I have to go back to my team again," she said and the Uzumaki looked more interested when she mentioned 'team'. Yeah, he was perfect for her team all right.

"Why?" Naruto asked, curiosity jumping up and down inside him. Did something happen? He saw the platinum blonde sigh and scowl before she spoke.

"Just a stupid test. What the heck did you call me for?" Ino asked a bit annoyed at how the teen wasn't getting to the point. She had major issues to solve and for the life of her, she couldn't decide to who to kick out.

"Ah, right," Naruto said, drawing the last word out. "It's about what happened that day. When I caught you."

"Caught me? You talk like as if I was committing a crime. Also, why didn't you tell me you passed?" Ino asked, still annoyed at that part.

"Huh? Why should I tell you anything about how I passed?" Naruto asked a bit taken back at her words. Then he spoke like the frank person he was, "Besides, it's not like you care about whether I pass or not."

Ino opened her mouth and shut it quickly again. Her mind tried to say different lies and make up excuses to show that she did care about him but another voice in her head echoed.

 _"Since when did you consider me a friend?"_

The words made her feel guilty. Guilty of actually considering him a dropout when he had passed, and of course, Ino didn't know him that well.

"I was going to apologize to you, but you just had to make it weird didn't you?" Naruto continued and the blonde was further surprised by his words.

"You were going to apologize to me?" Ino asked, not really believing what he said. Naruto never apologized to anyone in the Academy…ever.

"Duh," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Naruto then grumbled as he put his hands into deep abyss of his pockets as he spoke, "I was a bit tired that night. Then after I saved you, instead of getting a thank you or something like that…you called me 'dobe' instead."

His words made her feel that pang again. However, unlike how Sasuke's cold and harsh words cut into her, Naruto's reasoning made her feel like being hit with something. It was true, she did not thank him for catching her, otherwise she'd have a few bruises on her.

"Anyways," he spoke breaking her thoughts as he looked at her. Naruto sighed a bit before speaking again, "Sorry. That's all I wanted to say."

She saw how the boy then picked up the small object garbed in a green cloth, and walk away from her. Unconsciously she started to follow where the boy went and saw him sitting down on the floor as he leaned against the wall. Ino stood in front of Naruto as he had an inquisitive look on his face.

"What are you still doing here? I'm done talking to you," Naruto said, not realizing how his words sounded at that moment.

Originally, he did not intend to speak to her that way, but Kyuubi's little scare tactic along with the fact that his sensei wasn't still here, put him a bit on the edge.

"I need to talk you," Ino said as her turquoise eyes looked at his own shade of cerulean.

For a moment, she said nothing and was swallowing invisible lumps of food down her throat as Naruto thought. Then she breathed out and closed her eyes before speaking.

"Thank you, Naruto," Ino said softly as she bowed her head a bit and the genuine act had this time taken him by surprise.

Somebody was thanking him – HIM of all people. Not to mention it was Ino and then she came back to her posture as she continued.

"Also, I wanted to apologize," Ino began and Naruto spoke up in between.

"Look if it's about the 'dobe' remark then-" he was promptly cut off when the heiress took charge of the conversation.

"It's not about that. It's about what you said about us not being friends. You were right," Ino said as she looked at him, he could see the guilt in her eyes, that along with the remorse too.

Naruto never claimed to be a good reader of people, but he knew remorse when he saw it. He often apologized to people when he would accidentally bump into them, he would apologize and receive a shove followed by harsh words. So, yes. He could feel that Ino was meaning what she said.

"We're not friends, and neither of us tried to be friends," Ino said and Naruto shook his head in mirth.

Ino caught that and continued, "Why are you shaking your head like that?"

"You really don't remember do you?" Naruto asked. Seeing her head shake, he sighed. "First day of the Academy, I tried to talk to you and Sakura-c-. You don't remember how you two brushed past me?"

Ino did remember now. A slightly cute blond boy of seven or eight with adorable cheeks and blue eyes approaching her and Sakura, her first friend she met at the park after a bad case of bullying. She remembered how the other children were talking about the blond boy like he was a nuisance, and how they shouldn't even talk to him much less play with him.

Naturally, like all kids around her age, she followed the trend and essentially cut off contact with him. Not only that, but she would jeer on him too along with everyone else. Sure she didn't hit him like Sakura did, but words often cut deeper than knives and she certainly did have a way with words.

She – Yamanaka Ino – was a fool, as she brought up a hand to her mouth as Naruto was nodding at her.

"Yeah," he said with a sarcastic smile on his face. "Neither of us ever tried. It wasn't just you Ino. Not everyone from our class wanted to be friends with me. In fact the only ones who I can remotely call friends are Shikamaru and Choji."

"I see," Ino finally spoke after realizing what he meant. However, this brought up more facts that ate away at her head.

How was he so damn cheerful if he had no friends? She was aware that Naruto didn't have any parents, she along with a few others did notice how he would sit by the swing outside the Academy…all by himself. It was only no she was realizing how lonely he was, and with each realization, she was feeling guiltier.

She was not cruel. No, her parents didn't raise her to be a person like that. Ino was sure that if she had a mirror in front of her she could see the shame stretched across her face. She couldn't change the past, however she wouldn't let this rest either.

"You're right," she said in a whisper as her eyes darkened. "You never had any friends, except maybe lazy-ass and fat-ass. I…I was also kind of rude to you."

"Understatement of the year."

"Okay, I was a skank."

"No, that's Ami."

"Fine!" Ino yelled as she came forward and grabbed Naruto's arm. Yanking him up with all her strength, which was a bit strenuous on her part. Naruto looked heavier than she thought. Finally standing face to face with him, she began anew. Things would be different this time, her mother even told her to be friends with the boy.

"I'm sorry for doing that on the first day. I'm sorry for not thanking you for catching me….I'm sorry for not being a friend, Naruto," Ino said and the boy looked at her with one closed eye as if observing her closely.

He looked funny like that, and she didn't giggle or laugh at him. He'd probably take it in a different way.

"Apology accepted," Naruto said and was turning around before Ino coughed into her hand. He slowly turned back around as he watched a smile on her face.

Huh. So that's what Ino looked like when she smiled at someone. She then waved at him. Again, Naruto got confused.

"Hi," she began and Naruto almost pinched her to make her stop. However, she extended her arm forward and spoke, "I'm Yamanaka Ino."

"Ino, what are you doing?" he asked. Honestly, the girl's actions were making him think, he didn't feel like thinking right now.

"Just play along, alright?"

"But why would I-"

"Just do it, Naruto."

"Wh-"

"Just do it."

"You're being-"

"Just do it!"

"Fine!" Naruto exclaimed. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you, dattebayo!"

Naruto finished and was going to sit down and have some chicken hibachi he worked hard to cook, however Ino's next words stopped him.

"Do you want to be friends with me?"

"What?" Naruto asked not entirely believing what Ino was doing. "You're serious? This is childish."

"Well, sometimes we have to be childish," Ino replied just as quickly.

"If you're doing this to pity me, then-"

"Believe me when I tell you, Naruto," Ino began once more. "I really want to be friends with you."

"Why?" Naruto questioned. "Why do you want to be friends with me?"

"Well, first of all my Mom said that you're nice guy. Someone I should be friends with,"

"She's a good judge of character," Naruto added sagely. He was a nice guy, hearing that felt good.

"Secondly, you're kind of thick-headed,"

"Hey!"

"-but you're determined," Ino began as she looked him dead in the eye. "You never give up. You always want to prove yourself, but most of all…you're pretty darn stubborn."

"Takes one to know one," Naruto quipped.

"True. So what do you say?" Ino said extending her hand.

Naruto thought about her action for a moment.

This was still very weird for him.

This was Yamanaka Ino, the most popular kunoichi of his class extending a hand of familiarity to him. This was beyond strange. However, that smile and twinkle in her eyes told him otherwise.

He remembered asking Jiji why the Yondaime had chosen to believe that Naruto could hold the Kyuubi back, the Sandaime told him during one of their meetings in the past month.

The Yondaime had taken a leap of faith; he had placed in trust in an infant that he would not fail.

Naruto did the same as he extended his hand forward and shook hers. Her hand was smaller compared to his and surprisingly smooth. He expected some calluses from wielding weapons, but he guessed that she must've used a herb of some sort. Ino's family did own a flower shop after all.

Ino herself found his hand to be warm, exceptionally so. She guessed he must've been always warm like that and the genuine smile breaking out on his face only complemented that fact. Slowly taking their hands apart, Ino waited to say something but her stomach grumbled.

Oh, it didn't just grumbled, in fact she would say that it was demonstrating the mating call of a whale i.e. her hunger was getting to her.

Embarrassed, Ino's face slowly started becoming red. She just became friends with the guy and then this happened. She was actually planning to run away and hide her face, but Naruto started chuckling as he pointed at her.

"Your face is red," he said and snickered as she became even redder. Oh, and his laughter went up too.

"It's not funny, Naruto," she threatened a bit, and Naruto slowed down his laughing before he eventually stopped. Then he bent down and picked up his box, before holding it out to her. Ino tilted her head, not sure at his action.

"Here, I made some lunch in case my sensei was going to be late. Have some," Naruto offered with a smile. Since he was officially friends with her, this seemed like a good way to start. Well it seemed okay to him. Why was her face pink now? Even though she did look kinda cute.

"I can't. I'm on a diet," she said turning away, cheeks still pink at the sudden offer. She knew it was very clichéd, but she liked how he offered her lunch. First time a guy had the guts to go so far, but then again knowing Naruto… Still she had a figure to maintain and…there went her stomach again, declaring to the whole world how she tortured her own body.

"Geez," Naruto said. He then grabbed her hand and made her sit down with him. She may have been stubborn, but he was twice or thrice as much. He then started unwrapping the cloth as he handed her the chopsticks, he didn't see how her cheeks were still pink and the slight pout on her face at the sudden action.

"I made this, dattebayo," Naruto said as he opened the box and the aroma of spices, well-cooked chicken and other vegetables invaded the air.

Yamanaka Ino glanced at the food, and she had to say it looked good. Well not as good as her cooking and certainly not even close to her mother's, but it was visually appealing and the hunger inside her made her think of all the flavors just waiting to devoured.

Mentally slapping herself, she remembered that this was Naruto's lunch. The one he made for himself; and she was on a diet. Ino wanted to have a good figure without becoming fat, that was one of her nightmares. On top of that, she had her pride.

"Thanks, Naruto. But I don't want to."

"You're drooling, Ino," Naruto replied as he pointed at the small, trickling saliva escaping from her lower lip.

Well, there went her pride.

"I'll have a little bit of it, I guess. But don't think I'm freeloading," Ino added as Naruto chuckled a bit more. He then handed her the box as she slowly began to eat the content. As she had guessed, it wasn't bad and her apparent state of famish only made it taste better.

"How is it?" Naruto eagerly asked as someone other than Ayame tasted it. Since she taught him how to cook in the first place, he knew there would be a certain amount of biased opinion in it. However this was Ino, she wasn't exactly one to mince words that much. In a way, she was a bit like him.

Blonde, energetic, stubborn, and loud.

"It's okay," she said as took another mouthful.

"Alright," Naruto said as he pumped one of his fists. "Next is going to be fifty different flavors of ramen."

"Ugh," Ino said as she took another bite. She dreaded the fact that there were fifty sorts of ramen.

"Oi, don't diss ramen like that," Naruto said and began another conversation with the platinum blonde.

Unknown to them, a man was sitting on a tree not too far away from them. He watched everything with one eye and smiled as his lone orb turned into an inverse U shape.

"Well now," the grey, spiky haired man said to himself. "This is an interesting development."

 **xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx**

* * *

 **Author's Notes II:** Well, there it is folks. Chapter 2 finished, Naruto and Ino are now friends…kinda…sorta. You know it's like one of those situations where you know a person for years but you don't really become friends with them until one day it just suddenly seems to clicks. No? Seriously, I am the only one? Fuck it. Now a recommendation to you guys...hmm. Well there is " **Wood, Paper and Illusion** " by Glacious which is a pretty good fic when compared to the standards on this website, make sure to give that story a read. Make sure you guys review and let me know what you think. Trust me, reviews are my fucking cocaine!


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